Mojave Monkeyflower
Mimulus mohavensis
Color: Maroon
Common name: Mojave monkeyflower
Latin name: Mimulus mohavensis
Family: SCROPHULARIACEAE
Height: up to 4 inches
Description: Mimulus mohavensis is a small, hairy annual herb. The herbage is usually reddish green to red-purple in color. The tubular base of the tiny flower is encapsulated in a hairy, ribbed calyx of red sepals with pointed lobes. The flower has a flat face with five rounded, equal lobes. The corolla lobes are dark-veined pink at the bases and white at the edges.
Leaf: The oppositely arranged leaves are narrow oval in shape and under 3 cm in length.
Range: Mojave Desert (near Barstow, San Bernardino Co.)
Habitat: Gravelly banks of desert washes
Elevation: 600–1000 m.
Flowering time: Apr–mid-May
Notes: The historical range of the plant was wider than it is today; many occurrences have been extirpated. The population sizes and abundance vary, as they probably depend on annual rainfall amounts. Mimulus mohavensis, a dicot, is an annual herb that is native to California and is endemic (limited) to California alone. It is included in the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants on list 1B.2 — rare, threatened, or endangered.
We have an online wildflower field guide that is designed to help you identify desert wildflowers by color, scientific name, region and common name. The pictures are sized to work on the iPod, iPhone, iPad and similar devices. With your iPod or phone you will easily be able to identify wildflowers while in the desert. Links for downloads are on the bottom of the Wildflower Field Guide page.
Photo tips: Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.
Mojave Desert Wildflowers - This book is the standard by which all other wildflower books are measured. The author, Jon Mark Stewart, has combined super photography with concise information. This book has an entire color page for each wildflower covered, with a discussion of the wildflower. 210 pages with 200 color photos. More...
What's Blooming Now - Check the Wildflower Reports
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