Bush Monkeyflower © Gerald & Buff Corsi/Focus on Nature, Inc.

Simple-shaped Flowers

Description A plant with woody, branched stems, covered with a sticky, varnish-like secretion and pale to deep orange bilaterally symmetrical flowers.
Flowers: 1 1/4-2" (3.1-5 cm) long; upper lip of corolla has 2 lobes bent upward, lower lip has 3 lobes bent downward; calyx smooth.
Leaves: to 3" (7.5 cm) long, lanceolate, dark green on top, pale and sparsely hairy on underside, edges with fine teeth.
Height: 2-4' (60-120 cm).

Flower March-August.

Habitat Slopes and banks in chaparral and open woods.

Range Southwestern Oregon to southern California; inland to the base of the Sierra Nevada.

Discussion Its long blooming season makes Bush Monkeyflower a reliable source of nectar for hummingbirds. At the end of the style, two flaps (the stigmas) will slowly but visibly move and close together when touched by a blade of grass, a pollen-laden insect, or a hummingbird, providing a protective chamber for the pollen to begin its growth.