Erythranthe cardinalis or Mimulus cardinalis, the scarlet monkeyflower, is a flowering perennial in the family Phrymaceae. Genus name comes from the Latin diminutive of mimus meaning a mimic as they look like a monkey face.
Mimulus cardinalis, commonly called scarlet monkey flower, is a creeping, herbaceous evergreen perennial of the figwort family that typically grows to 1-3’ tall and as wide on upright, branched, sticky-hairy, yellowish-green flowering stems clad with opposite, sessile, sharp-toothed, downy, obovate, pale green leaves (to 4 1/2” long). Solitary, tubular, scarlet (rarely yellow) flowers (1-2” long) resembling snap-dragons bloom from the leaf axils from June/July to October. Each flower has protruding stamens, bearded anthers and a two-lipped corolla. Each corolla has a 2-lobed, sometimes-reflexed, upper lip and a 3-lobed lower lip featuring three spreading, throat-exposing lobes. This monkey flower is native to moist to wet places including streamsides, pond margins, springs, seepages and under water-dripping cliffs, primarily in certain mountainous areas.
