Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Perennial with much branched stems, erect to decumbent stems, 22-60 cm tall, glabrous below to viscid-villous above.

Leaves: Opposite, obovate to oblong, 4-9.5 cm long, sessile, irregularly serrate, with 3-5 longitudinal veins, the upper leaves with broad clasping bases.

Flowers: Solitary in axils of leaves on pedicels 5-8 cm long, calyx wing angled, 2-3 cm long, glabrous to pubescent with ovate teeth, 4-5 mm long, nearly equal, corolla scarlet, 3.5-6 cm long, strongly bilabiate, with tube 2.5-3.5 cm long, palate with pale yellow hairs, lower lip reflexed, upper lip arched, anthers ciliate.

Fruits: Oblong loculicidal capsule in persistent papery calyx, 15-20 mm long.

Ecology: Found in wet soils of streambanks, seeps, and springs from 2,000-8,000 ft (610-2438 m); flowers May-August.

Notes: Is morphologically similar to M. eastwoodiae, but is distinguished by the different phenology, with this species- flowers being borne in spring as opposed to late summer and fall. M. eastwoodiae has been collected only in the northern part of Arizona and New Mexico and further north.

Ethnobotany: Used as a wash for newborns and the stalks were eaten.

Etymology: Mimulus means ape-flower, or a diminutive of the Latin minimus, a comic or mimic actor, because of the grinning corolla, while cardinalis means red.

Synonyms: Diplacus cardinalis, Erythranthe cardinalis, Mimulus cardinalis var. exsul, Mimulus cardinalis var. griseus, Mimulus cardinalis var. rigens, Mimulus cardinalis var. verbenaceus, Mimulus verbenaceus, Mimulus eastwoodiae

Editor: SBuckley, 2010