Sharpwing monkeyflower facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sharpwing monkeyflower |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Mimulus
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| Species: |
alatus
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| Distribution of Mimulus alatus in the United States | |
The sharpwing monkeyflower, also known as Mimulus alatus, is a cool plant from North America. It's a type of herbaceous perennial plant, which means it has soft stems and comes back year after year. This plant doesn't have a smell, but it has pretty blue to violet flowers. You can see it blooming from June to September.
Mimulus alatus grows quickly, but it doesn't live as long as many other plants. Like its relatives in the Mimulus group, it loves wet or damp places. Its flowers have a special shape called "bilabiate," which means "two-lipped." These two lips look a bit like a monkey's face, which is how it got its common name! The plant also has unique "winged" stems, adding to its name.
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Plant Family: The Monkeyflower's New Home
For a long time, the Mimulus group of plants, including the sharpwing monkeyflower, was thought to belong to the Scrophulariaceae. But scientists are always learning new things!
In the 1990s, scientists studied the DNA of these plants. They looked at DNA from different parts of the plant, like the chloroplasts and the nucleus. This research showed that Mimulus didn't quite fit where it was.
It turned out that several other plant groups, like Glossostigma and Phryma, actually grew out of Mimulus. Because of this, Mimulus and its relatives were moved to a new family called Phrymaceae. So, the sharpwing monkeyflower now has a new family home!
Where Does the Sharpwing Monkeyflower Grow?
The sharpwing monkeyflower is a plant that naturally lives in eastern North America. Its home range is quite large!
You can find it from Connecticut in the north, all the way down to Florida in the south. It also stretches west to Nebraska and Texas. It's most common in the central and lower parts of the Mississippi Valley.
However, it's a bit rare in some states and provinces. These include Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Ontario in Canada.
Where the Monkeyflower Likes to Live
The sharpwing monkeyflower is a perennial plant, meaning it grows back every year. It likes to live in places that are a bit sunny but also wet. Think of it as a plant that loves to have its "feet" wet!
You can find this plant in many different kinds of wet areas. It grows along the edges of small rivers, in swamps, and on shady stream banks. It also likes wet woods, marshes, wet meadows, and even ditches or around springs.
It can handle full sun, but if it's too dry and sunny, the plant stays small. It might also turn a yellowish-green color. During its growing season, it can even survive if its area floods sometimes. It usually doesn't get sick from leaf diseases.
This plant prefers soil that's slightly acidic to neutral, with a soil pH between 5.6 and 7.5. It also likes soil that has lots of organic matter, like old leaves. It can't survive very cold temperatures, especially if it gets colder than -23°F (-30.5°C).
What Does the Sharpwing Monkeyflower Look Like?
The sharpwing monkeyflower can grow to different heights. It can be as short as 15 centimeters (about 6 inches) or as tall as 91 centimeters (about 3 feet). Its height depends on how good the growing conditions are.
This plant has a main root called a taproot, and also thick underground stems called rhizomes. Its flowers are special because they have both male and female parts. They are also symmetrical, meaning you can draw a line down the middle and both sides will be the same. Most often, the flowers are blue or violet.
The stems of the plant stand up straight. They are hollow, smooth, and have a square shape with four distinct angles. Sometimes, these stems will branch out. Along the edges of these square stems, you can see thin "wings," which is where the plant gets part of its name.
The leaves are smooth and grow in pairs, one across from the other. They are arranged in a special way called "decussate," where each pair is at a right angle to the pair below it. The leaves have noticeable teeth along their edges. They can be up to 12 cm (about 4.7 inches) long and 5 cm (about 2 inches) wide. Their shape can be oval, spear-shaped, or oval-spear-shaped, and they gradually narrow to a sharp point at the tip. At the base of the leaves, there are short, winged stems called petioles, about 1.2 cm (about 0.5 inches) long.
The Monkeyflower's Beautiful Flowers
The flowers of the sharpwing monkeyflower grow one by one. Each flower is about 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) long. Even though the plant blooms from June to September, only a few flowers on the same plant are open at any one time.
The two-lipped flower, called a corolla, grows from short stems (pedicels) that are about 5 mm long. These pedicels come from where the upper leaves meet the stem. In the center of the flower, there's a yellow area surrounded by a white band. This yellow "beard" helps guide pollinators right to the flower's center.
The upper lip of the flower has two parts that fold backward. The lower lip has three round parts that spread out. These lower parts act like a landing pad for insects that come to visit. Unlike the smooth stems and leaves, the flowers have tiny white hairs on their surface.
Underneath the colorful flower is a green cup-like structure called a calyx. It's about 1.7 cm long and has five parts with five small teeth around its edge. After the colorful part of the flower falls off, the calyx stays and surrounds a small capsule. This capsule is about 1 cm long and holds many tiny, black seeds. If you collect these seeds, they can successfully grow into new plants indoors!
Inside the flower, at the base of the 1.5 cm long corolla tube, there are four stamens. These are the male parts of the flower. There's one short pair and one long pair. The white threads (filaments) are about 6-7 mm long, and they hold brownish anthers, which are about 1.3 mm long. The flower also has a light green, oval-shaped ovary, which is about 6 mm long. This is the female part that will develop into the seed capsule. There's also a white, smooth style, about 7 mm long, and two flat stigmas, which are sticky parts that collect pollen.
How the Monkeyflower Gets Pollinated
The sharpwing monkeyflower relies on insects to help it make seeds. Bumblebees, like the Bombus pensylvanicus, are very important visitors. They are attracted to the sweet nectar inside the flowers. When they visit, they help carry pollen from one flower to another, which is called pollination.
It's not just bees that interact with this plant! The caterpillars of a moth called Elaphria chalcedonia like to eat the leaves of the sharpwing monkeyflower. Butterflies and birds also visit these plants. However, scientists haven't collected much information yet about all the different animals that interact with the sharpwing monkeyflower.
Spotting the Difference: Similar Monkeyflowers
Sometimes, people can confuse Mimulus alatus with another plant called Mimulus ringens, or the square-stemmed monkeyflower. This is because both plants can grow in some of the same wet places. But if you look closely, you can tell them apart!
Here are some ways to tell the two monkeyflowers apart:
- M. ringens has leaves that attach directly to the stem without a small stem (no petiole). M. alatus has small, winged stems (petioles) on its leaves.
- The flower stems (pedicels) of M. ringens are longer than 1.2 cm. For M. alatus, the pedicels are much shorter than 1.2 cm.
- The flowers of M. ringens grow on pedicels that are longer than their green calyx cup. For M. alatus, it's the opposite: its pedicels are shorter than its calyx.
- The leaves of M. ringens have only weak teeth along their edges. Also, the "wings" on its stems are not very noticeable.
- Finally, M. ringens can grow in a wider variety of habitats. M. alatus is a bit pickier about where it lives, preferring more specific wet conditions.
