Slenderstalk monkeyflower facts for kids

The slenderstalk monkeyflower (Erythranthe gracilipes) is a special kind of monkeyflower. It's not very common to find. This plant used to be called Mimulus gracilipes.

Where It Grows

This unique plant only grows in one place: California. You can find it in a specific part of the central Sierra Nevada foothills. This means it is endemic to California, which means it naturally lives only there and nowhere else in the world.

What It Looks Like

The slenderstalk monkeyflower is an annual herb. This means it grows from a seed, flowers, produces new seeds, and then dies all within one year. It's a small wildflower, usually growing no taller than about 8 centimeters (that's less than 4 inches!).

Its stem is a bit fuzzy. It has a few pairs of leaves that grow opposite each other on the stem. These leaves are reddish-green and shaped like ovals, each about a centimeter long.

The flowers are pink and small, usually less than a centimeter long and wide. The bottom part of the flower, called the calyx, is red and hairy. It holds the flower's tube-like throat. The flower has two main parts, like lips. The top lip has two small notches, and the wider bottom lip has three sections.