Mimetanthe

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = False Monkeyflower imported from iNaturalist photo 314761995 on 28 March 2024.jpg

|image2 = Mimtanthe pilosa arizona.jpg

|genus = Mimetanthe

|parent_authority = Greene

|species = pilosa

|authority = (Benth.) Greene

|synonyms =

{{Species list

|Mimulus exilis|Durand & Hilg.

|Mimulus pilosus|(Benth.) S.Watson

|Herpestis pilosa|Benth.

|Moniera pilosa|(Benth.) Kuntze

}}

|synonyms_ref = {{cite web |title=Mimetanthe pilosa (Benth.) Greene |work=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:805852-1 |access-date=2022-04-16 }}

}}

Mimetanthe is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phrymaceae. It has only one species, Mimetanthe pilosa, synonym Mimulus pilosus, known by the common names false monkeyflower{{PLANTS|id=MIPI5|taxon=Mimetanthe pilosa|accessdate=9 July 2015}} and downy mimetanthe. It is native to the western United States (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington State) and Baja California, where it grows in moist and disturbed habitat types. This plant is different enough from other monkeyflowers that it is treated in its own monotypic genus, Mimetanthe, or it may be retained in Mimulus.{{cite journal | last1 = Beardsley | first1 = P. M. | display-authors = etal | year = 2004 | title = Patterns of evolution in western North American Mimulus (Phrymaceae) | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 91 | issue = 3| pages = 474–89 | doi=10.3732/ajb.91.3.474 | pmid = 21653403| doi-access = free }}{{citation |author1=Barker, W.R. |author2=Nesom, G.L. |author3=Beardsley, P.M. |author4=Fraga, N.S. |year=2012 |title=A taxonomic conspectus of Phrymaceae: A narrowed circumscriptions for Mimulus, new and resurrected genera, and new names and combinations |journal=Phytoneuron |volume=2012–39 |pages=1–60 |url=http://www.phytoneuron.net/PhytoN-Phrymaceae.pdf}}{{cite journal | last1 = Beardsley | first1 = P. M.|last2=Yen|first2=Alan | last3 = Olmstead | first3 = R. G. | year = 2003 | title = AFLP Phylogeny of Mimulus Section Erythranthe and the Evolution of Hummingbird Pollination| journal = Evolution | volume = 57 | issue =6| pages = 1397–1410|jstor=3448862 | doi=10.1554/02-086| pmid = 12894947| s2cid = 198154155}}{{cite journal | last1 = Beardsley | first1 = P. M. | last2 = Olmstead | first2 = R. G. | year = 2002 | title = Redefining Phrymaceae: the placement of Mimulus, tribe Mimuleae, and Phryma | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 89 | issue = 7 | pages = 1093–1102 | doi=10.3732/ajb.89.7.1093|jstor=4122195 | pmid = 21665709}}{{cite journal | last1 = Beardsley | first1 = P. M.|last2=Schoenig|first2=Steve E.| last3 = Whittall | first3 = Justen B. | last4 = Olmstead| first4 =Richard G. | year = 2004 | title =Patterns of Evolution in Western North American Mimulus (Phrymaceae) | journal = American Journal of Botany| volume =91 | issue =3| pages = 474–4890|jstor=4123743 | doi=10.3732/ajb.91.3.474 | pmid = 21653403| doi-access = free}}

It is an annual herb growing to a maximum height of about 35 centimeters. It is coated densely in long hairs. The oppositely arranged, narrow or wide lance-shaped leaves 1 to 3 centimeters long. The tubular base of the flower is encapsulated in a calyx of sepals. The yellow flower corolla is under a centimeter long, divided into five rounded lobes at the mouth, and often dotted with red in the throat.