Erythranthe inconspicua

Small-flowered monkeyflower

Family: Phrymaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Small-flowered monkeyflower is a California native annual found in the southern Sierra Nevada Foothills near El Dorado County in hillside streams and seeps with partial shade at elevations of 200 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces rose to lavender flowers with deeply notched petals in delicate blossoms about 5 to 6 millimeters wide. Growing to 3 to 16 centimeters tall, the plant forms a distinctive basal rosette with broadly elliptic leaves near the base and sessile ovate leaves along its stems. Its leaves range from 6 to 20 millimeters long, with a rounded base and a glabrous surface. The fruit develops 4 to 9 millimeters long, with a symmetrically swollen calyx in maturity.

Habitat: Near hillside streams or seeps, in partial shade

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 200-2100 m

Bioregions: SNF (s of El Dorado Co.).

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