Mimulus

Plant Characteristics
Habit		herbaceous
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial, annual

Cultivation

Features:	✓	flowers

Scientific Names
Phrymaceae >	Mimulus >

Read about Mimulus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
Mimulus (Latin, a little mimic, from the grinning fls.). Scrophulariaceae. Mostly herbs (annual or perennial) with interesting irregular flowers in many colors, some of them border subjects and others flower-garden plants. Low plants (sometimes shrubby), decumbent, ascending or erect, glabrous or pilose and often clammy: lvs. opposite, entire or toothed: fls. axillary, solitary or becoming racemose by the reduction of the upper lvs.; calyx 5-angled, with 5 short or long teeth; corolla-tube cylindrical, sometimes swollen at the throat; stamens 4, didynamous: caps, oblong or linear, loculicidally dehiscent.—Species probably 60 or 70, if Diplacus, Eunanus and Mimulastrum are included, mostly in extra Trop. Amer., but some in Asia, Austral, and Afr. The genus is specially rich in W. N. Amer. This genus includes the monkey-flower, M. luteus, and the musk plant, M. moschatus. Monkey-flowers are something like snapdragons, although they do not have a closed throat. They are 2-lipped fls., with 2 upper and 3 lower lobes, which are all rounded and usually irregularly splashed and dotted with brown on a yellow ground. Though perennial, they are commonly treated as annuals and are considerably used for pot cult. in winter, as well as for summer bloom outdoors. The musk plant is grown for its scented foliage and pale yellow fls. It is sometimes used in hanging-baskets, but the foliage is so sticky that it gathers too much dust. The kinds described below are all perennial at least by underground parts (except M. brevipes), and most of them are natives of wet and shady places in N. W. Amer. They mostly grow 1-3 ft. high and bloom all summer. Diplacus is here included in Mimulus. Mimulus plants (M. luteus) can be increased by sowing seed from January to April in pans of light sandy soil. They like a mixture of loam, leaf-mold and sand in equal parts. They may be kept in a temperature of 60° until they show signs of coming up, when they should be placed in a house that stands at about 50° during the night. As soon as the seedlings can be handled, they should be potted off into small pots and grown along in as cool a house as possible. The early- sown plants can be planted out in May in a cool shady situation, where, if they can have enough water to keep the roots moist, they will bloom fairly well. Those that are sown late can be grown on by shifting into 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-inch pots, using a compost of fibrous loam three parts, well-decayed cow-manure one part, and enough sand to keep the compost open. In the summer these may be grown outside in frames covered by lath shading. Late in autumn they may be brought into a coolhouse with 45° to 50° night temperature. Give them a place near the glass, and with care as to watering and ventilating they will bloom satisfactorily. They can also be increased from cuttings taken in the early spring.—M. moschatus can be grown from seed and cuttings. They may be planted out in a partly shaded situation, where they will grow all summer. In the autumn, lift some of the clumps and pot them. These may be grown in a coolhouse of about 45° at night. In the spring, when it is desired to increase the stock, take pieces of the new growth and place them around the side of a 3-inch pot, using the compost mentioned above; by keeping moist and shaded for a short time, they will soon root into the mixture and be ready to grow on. These may be shifted into 4-inch pots and soon will make fine little plants by then- rapidly creeping growth. M.capensis, Hort., is listed abroad as fit for cool greenhouse or pot-plant, or for warm border: 3-4 in. high: flu. bright orange, Apr.-July. Said to resemble M. cardinalis in habit and infl.—M. radicans of the lists is probably Mazus radicans (Mimulus radicans, Hook.f.). The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Species

Mimulus (pronounced /ˈmɪmjuːləs/)^[1] is a diverse plant genus, the monkey-flowers and musk-flowers. The about 150 species are currently placed in the family Phrymaceae. The genus has traditionally been placed in Scrophulariaceae. The removal of Mimulus from that family has been supported by studies of chloroplast DNA first published in the mid-1990sTemplate:Fact. Multiple studies of chloroplast DNA and two regions of nuclear rDNA^[2] suggest that the genera Phryma, Berendtiella, Hemichaena, Leucocarpus, Microcarpeae, Peplidium, Glossostigma, and Elacholoma are all derived from within Mimulus and would need to be rearranged.^wp

It is recognized that there are two large groups of Mimulus species, with the largest group of species in western North America, and a second group with center of diversity in Australia. A few species also extend into eastern North America, eastern Asia and southern Africa. This enlarged group is a part of the newly redefined Phrymaceae.^wp

Selected species^wp:

Mimulus alatus – Sharpwing Monkey-flower
Mimulus alsinoides – Chickweed Monkey-flower
Mimulus aridus
Mimulus aurantiacus – Orange Bush Monkey-flower, Sticky Monkey-flower
Mimulus bigelovii
Mimulus breviflorus – Shortflower Monkey-flower
Mimulus brevipes – Wide-throated Yellow Monkey-flower
Mimulus breweri – Brewer's Monkey-flower
Mimulus cardinalis – Scarlet Monkey-flower
Mimulus clementii
Mimulus cupreus
Mimulus debilis F.Muell.
Mimulus dentatus – Toothleaf Monkey-flower
Mimulus douglasii – Purple mouse ears, brownies
Mimulus filicaulis – Slender-stemmed Monkey-flower
Mimulus floribundus – Floriferous Monkey-flower
Mimulus fremontii
Mimulus glabratus – Roundleaf Monkey-flower
Mimulus glaucescens
Mimulus glutinosus – Pink Monkey-flower, Hard-wooded Mimulus
Mimulus gracilis R.Br.
Mimulus guttatus – Common Large Monkey-flower, Common Monkey-flower, Stream Monkey-flower, Seep Monkey-flower
Mimulus laciniatus
Mimulus lewisii – Great Purple Monkey-flower, Lewis' Monkey-flower
Mimulus longiflorus – Southern Bush Monkey-flower syn. Diplacus longiflorus
Mimulus luteus – Yellow Monkey-flower, Blood-drop-emlets, Monkey Musk
Mimulus micranthus
Mimulus moschatus – Musk-flower
Mimulus nudatus
Mimulus nasutus
Mimulus palmeri
Mimulus parishii
Mimulus pilosus – Downy Mimetanthe
Mimulus primuloides
Mimulus puniceus – Red Bush Monkey-flower syn. Diplacus puniceus
Mimulus repens R.Br.
Mimulus ringens – Allegheny Monkey-flower, Square-stemmed Monkey-flower
Mimulus roseus – Rosy Monkey-flower
Mimulus rupicola – Death Valley Monkey-flower
Mimulus shevockii – Kelso Creek Monkey-flower
Mimulus stellatus
Mimulus tilingii – Large Mountain Monkey-flower, Subalpine Monkey-flower
Mimulus variegatus

Gallery

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References

External links

w:Mimulus. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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↑ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
↑ Beardsley, P. M. & Olmstead, R. G. 2002. Redefining Phrymaceae: the placement of Mimulus, tribe Mimuleae, and Phryma. American Journal of Botany 89: 1093-1102 (available online here)

[1] Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607

[2] Beardsley, P. M. & Olmstead, R. G. 2002. Redefining Phrymaceae: the placement of Mimulus, tribe Mimuleae, and Phryma. American Journal of Botany 89: 1093-1102 (available online here)

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