Diplacus nanus

Dwarf monkeyflower

Family: Phrymaceae · Type: annual · Native

Dwarf monkeyflower is a California native annual found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, and Great Basin in openings within sagebrush or on disturbed granite slopes at elevations of 1,000 to 2,300 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces magenta or lavender-purple flowers with a distinctive yellow-dotted throat and two prominent yellow folds. Growing in tufted or mound-like clusters just 1 to 12 centimeters tall with branching stems that have longer proximal internodes, it forms compact ground-hugging mats. Its leaves are oblanceolate to linear, 3 to 30 millimeters long, green with a purplish underside and acute to rounded tips. The fruit ranges from 6 to 12 millimeters long, with slightly unequal calyx lobes and a somewhat oblique mouth when mature.

Habitat: Openings in sagebrush or on disturbed slopes, generally around granite

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1000-2300 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, GB

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.