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Monkey-Flower

Mimulus ringens. Figwort Family.

Stem.--Square; one to two feet high. Leaves.--Opposite; oblong or lance-shaped. Flowers.--Pale violet-purple, rarely white; growing singly from the axils of the leaves. Calyx.--Five-angled; five-toothed; the upper tooth largest. Corolla.--Tubular; two-lipped; the upper lip erect or spreading, two-lobed, the lower spreading and three-lobed; the throat closed. Stamens.--Four. Pistil.--One, with a two-lobed stigma. From July onward the monkey-flowers tinge the wet fields and border the streams and ponds; not growing in the water like the pickerel-weed, but seeking a hummock in the swamp, or a safe foothold on the brook's edge, where they can absorb the moisture requisite to their vigorous growth. The name is a diminutive of mimus--a buffoon, and refers to the somewhat grinning blossom. The plant is a common one throughout the eastern part of the country.