#common yellow monkeyflower

[thebashfulbotanist]

Erythranthe guttata, the seep monkey flower or common yellow monkeyflower, growing on the cliffs at Washington Park near Anacortes, WA. It’s pretty common near the shorelines in Washington State, and has a wide distribution in North America. Bumblebees love it, and its leaves are edible. 

[regnum-plantae]

Erythranthe guttata, Phrymaceae

On a Sunday, the bus I take to work follows a different route so I get to walk through a park on my way there, and that’s how I spotted this common yellow monkeyflower this morning. This highly variable species was formerly known as Mimulus guttata, and looking at these flowers I instantly thought of Mimulus ‘Splash’, one of the summer bedding plants we keep in the garden centre where I work, but I had never actually seen it with my eyes. 

Native to NW North America, this clump forming perennial (with annual forms) has been introduced to the British Isles in the 1830′s and is quite widespread especially along its waterways as it prefers moist soil and proximity to water in its native area. Quite fittingly, I found it growing just steps away from the river which runs the length of the park. Especially in the taller forms, this plant can spread quickly and vigorously through stolons, so it’s a good pond plant, but it might need some management in autumn when it goes dormant. The other obvious benefit in a garden situation is, once again, in the bright yellow zygomorphic flowers, a magnet for bees and bumblebees especially.