Mimulus pygmaeus
Encyclopedia
Mimulus pygmaeus is a species of monkeyflower
known by the common name Egg Lake monkeyflower.
and adjacent sections of Oregon
, where it grows in sagebrush
and wet, open habitat in scrub, forest, and woodland. Once thought to be extremely rare and vulnerable, the plant is actually locally common in areas where the soil has been recently disturbed, allowing a probably large seed bank
to germinate.
Despite its annual population sometimes running into the millions, the plant is threatened when large-scale disturbances occur.
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Mimulus
Mimulus 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...
known by the common name Egg Lake monkeyflower.
Distribution
It is native to northeastern CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and adjacent sections of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, where it grows in sagebrush
Sagebrush
Sagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...
and wet, open habitat in scrub, forest, and woodland. Once thought to be extremely rare and vulnerable, the plant is actually locally common in areas where the soil has been recently disturbed, allowing a probably large seed bank
Soil Seed Bank
The soil seed bank refers to the natural storage of seeds, often dormant, within the soil of most ecosystems. The study of soil seed banks started in 1859 when Charles Darwin observed the emergence of seedlings using soil samples from the bottom of a lake. The first scientific paper on the subject...
to germinate.
Despite its annual population sometimes running into the millions, the plant is threatened when large-scale disturbances occur.
Description
This is a petite annual herb forming dense tufts often just a few millimeters high. The lightly hairy oval or widely lance-shaped leaves are up to 1.5 centimeters long. The yellow flower is no more than a centimeter long, its tubular base encapsulated in a hairy calyx of sepalSepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
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