Erythranthe michiganensis facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Erythranthe michiganensis
Conservation status
Endangered (ESA)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Phrymaceae
Genus:	Erythranthe
Species:	E. michiganensis
Binomial name
Erythranthe michiganensis (Pennell) G.L.Nesom
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The Michigan monkeyflower (Erythranthe michiganensis) is a very rare flowering plant. It belongs to the lopseed family. This special plant grows only in certain wet areas of Michigan, USA. You can find it near the Grand Traverse and Mackinac Straits.

It is one of only three plant species that grow naturally only in Michigan. This means it is "endemic" to Michigan. The other two are Voss's Goldenrod and Packera insulae-regalis. The Michigan monkeyflower needs a very specific wet home with calcium in the soil. Sadly, these homes are disappearing because of new buildings. Because it is so rare, the US government listed it as an endangered species in 1990.

What Does the Michigan Monkeyflower Look Like?

The Michigan monkeyflower is an aquatic or semi-aquatic plant. This means it grows in or near water. It forms mat-like clumps of stems that can be up to 36 centimeters (about 14 inches) long. The stems grow along the ground and can root where they touch wet soil. New stems then grow upwards from these roots.

Many clumps of hundreds of stems can actually be part of one single plant! Its leaves grow opposite each other and have small teeth on their edges. The flowers grow from where the leaves meet the stem. Each flower sits on its own stalk, which is often longer than the leaves.

The Flower's Special Features

The Michigan monkeyflower has a yellow, tube-shaped flower. It is about 1.6 to 2.7 centimeters (0.6 to 1 inch) long. The flower has a wide opening with two parts on the top lip and three on the bottom lip. The bottom lip and inside of the flower might have red spots. The lower lip is covered in yellow hairs. These hairs act like a landing pad for pollinating insects.

However, this plant does not produce much good pollen. This means it mostly reproduces in a different way. It uses "vegetative reproduction" instead of seeds. This is like cloning itself. Pieces of the plant can break off and float downstream. This helps the plant spread to new areas. The Michigan monkeyflower usually blooms from mid-June to mid-July. Sometimes it blooms into August, or even rarely into September or October.

Where Does the Michigan Monkeyflower Live?

The Michigan monkeyflower grows almost only along the shores of the Great Lakes. These are Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It also grows in places that used to be ancient shorelines. It likes wet, very damp soil or very shallow water. It needs cold, clear flowing water and lots of sunlight.

The soil it grows in is usually sand covered with muck. This soil often has calcium compounds underneath. The plant also needs the water to be slightly alkaline (not too acidic). Its home is often at the edges of forests. These forests are usually filled with northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis).

Plant Neighbors

Other plants that might grow near the Michigan monkeyflower include:

• Touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis)
• Water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides)
• Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)
• Wild mint (Mentha arvensis)
• Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)

There are seventeen known places where this plant grows. However, two of these places have not been seen recently. The biggest groups of these plants are at Glen Lake, Burt Lake, and the shoreline of Mackinac County. You can also find it at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Many of these plants grow on land owned by private people. One group of plants was found after a scientist saw a specimen used as a garnish on his food at a restaurant!

A Tough Plant

This plant has shown it can be quite strong. It has been known to survive in dry conditions. It can also grow back after being mowed, even when it appeared in someone's lawn. It can even live without much sunlight in darker parts of the forest. However, in these dark areas, it usually cannot produce seeds.

Protecting the Michigan Monkeyflower

This rare plant needs a constant flow of cold, clear spring water to survive. Human activities can harm this flow. For example, pumping water from the ground or changing where water flows can hurt the plant. Natural events like storms and high lake levels can also be a threat.

The places where the plant lives are also being damaged. This can happen because of new houses being built or people using the land for fun activities. Building new homes has caused at least three groups of these plants to disappear completely.

To protect the Michigan monkeyflower, we need to:

• Directly protect the plants themselves.
• Stop changes to the local water flow.

Because the plant mostly reproduces by cloning itself, there might not be many different genetic types of the plant. This makes the groups of plants more easily harmed by diseases or changes in their environment.