Name: from the Greek erythros meaning red, and anthos meaning flower.
English: Monkey-flowers; Musk-flowers.
Content: aromatic compounds, with a musky odor.
Region: western North America, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, British Columbia, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Canada, Latin America, eastern Asia.
Habitat: moist to wet soils, riverbanks, in shallow water; not very drought resistant; elevations from oceanside to high mountains.
Use: salt substitute; edible, but very salty and bitter; leaves for salads and soups; Bach flower remedies.
Genus: 120 members; highly diverse genus;
Erythranthe guttata is the most widespread species and its characteristics are fairly representative of the genus.
TaxonomyErythranthe was originally described as a separate genus. Later is was regarded as within the genus Mimulus.
Recently it returned to generic rank. Diplacus was segregated from Mimulus as a separate genus at the same time.
Mimulus remains as a small genus of eastern North America and the Southern Hemisphere.
BotanyAnnual herbs; spreading with stolons or rhizomes.
Stem: erect or recumbent; smooth or hairy.
Roots may develop at lower leaf nodes.
Leaves: opposite; glabrous to hirsute; glandular; oblong, elliptical, or oval, with small, coarsel, irregular tooths.
Flowers: bright yellow flowers are borne on a raceme; red, pink, purple, or yellow, often in various combinations and shades of those colors; axile placentation; long pedicels; zygomorphic, upper lip with lobes, lower lip has 3 lobes with
one large to many small red to reddish brown spots; opening hairy.
Calyx: sharp, definite angles; flat sides; 5 short lobes.
Corolla: deciduous, relatively large, to 4 cm long long; strongly red to purplish, magentarose, pink, or white, rarely yellow.
Fruit: a two-valved capsule, 1 cm long, containing many seeds; pedicels longer than calyces.
Pollination: bees or hummingbirds.