Mimulus shevockii
Encyclopedia
Mimulus shevockii is a rare species of monkeyflower
known by the common name Kelso Creek monkeyflower.
, where it is known from about 10 occurrences near Lake Isabella
. It grows in granitic
, alluvial soils
in dry washes
and Joshua tree woodlands
where the Sierra Nevada transitions to the Mojave Desert
.
The tubular base of the flower is encapsulated in a red or red-spotted calyx of sepal
s. The flower has a narrow tube throat and wide face, and is roughly a centimeter long. The corolla is divided into a deep maroon red upper lip and a wider lower lip which is yellow with red dots.
The plant sometimes hybridizes with its relative, Mimulus androsaceus
.
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 Kelso Creek monkeyflower.
Distribution
Mimulus shevockii is endemic to the southern Sierra Nevada in Kern County, CaliforniaKern County, California
Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
, where it is known from about 10 occurrences near Lake Isabella
Lake Isabella
Lake Isabella is a reservoir in Kern County, California created by the earthen Isabella Dam. It was formed in 1953 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Kern River at the junction of its two forks at Whiskey Flat. At 11,000 acres , it is one of the larger reservoirs in California...
. It grows in granitic
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, alluvial soils
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
in dry washes
Arroyo (creek)
An arroyo , a Spanish word translated as brook, and also called a wash is usually a dry creek or stream bed—gulch that temporarily or seasonally fills and flows after sufficient rain. Wadi is a similar term in Africa. In Spain, a rambla has a similar meaning to arroyo.-Types and processes:Arroyos...
and Joshua tree woodlands
Joshua tree
Yucca brevifolia is a plant species belonging to the genus Yucca. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, Yucca palm, Tree yucca, and Palm tree yucca....
where the Sierra Nevada transitions to the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
.
Description
Mimulus shevockii is is an annual herb up to about 12 centimeters tall with a very slender, often red stem. The oppositely arranged oval leaves are no more than a centimeter long each and are sometimes fused together in pairs about the stem.The tubular base of the flower is encapsulated in a red or red-spotted calyx of sepal
Sepal
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...
s. The flower has a narrow tube throat and wide face, and is roughly a centimeter long. The corolla is divided into a deep maroon red upper lip and a wider lower lip which is yellow with red dots.
The plant sometimes hybridizes with its relative, Mimulus androsaceus
Mimulus androsaceus
Mimulus androsaceus is a species of monkeyflower known by the common name rockjasmine monkeyflower.-Distribution:It is endemic to California, where its distribution spans between the Coast Ranges north of the San Francisco Bay Area to the Mojave Desert, and the Transverse Ranges and Peninsular...
.