Mimulus ringens

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Monkey flower brdgwtr 20080803 3047.JPG

|genus = Mimulus

|species = ringens

|authority = L.

}}

Mimulus ringens is a species of monkeyflower known by the common names Allegheny monkeyflower and square-stemmed monkeyflower.

It is native to eastern and central North America and has been introduced to the Pacific Northwest.{{cite web |author=USDA NRCS National Plant Data Team |title=Mimulus ringens L. |website=U.S. Department of Agriculture National Resources Conservation Service |url=https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=MIRI |access-date=22 July 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Giblin |first1=David |title=Mimulus ringens |url=https://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Mimulus+ringens |website=Burke Herbarium Image Collection |publisher=University of Washington |access-date=1 October 2022}} It grows in a wide variety of moist to wet habitat types.{{cite web |title=Mimulus ringens North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox |website=N.C. Cooperative Extension |publisher=N.C. State University and N.C. A&T State University |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/mimulus-ringens/ |access-date=22 July 2022}}{{cite web |last=Fraga |first=Naomi S. |editor=Jepson Flora Project |url=https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=33706 |title=Mimulus ringens |website=Jepson eFlora, Revision 6 |publisher=Regents of the University of California |date=2018 |access-date=22 July 2022}} Seeds are available from commercial suppliers.

This is a rhizomatous perennial growing {{convert|20|cm|in}} to well over {{convert|1|meter|foot}} tall, its 4-angled stem usually erect. The oppositely arranged leaves are lance-shaped to oblong, up to {{convert|8|cm|in}} long, usually clasping the stem. The sessile leaves of M. ringens help to distinguish it from its eastern relative, Mimulus alatus,{{cite web |url=https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/allegheny-monkey-flower |title=Mimulus ringens Allegheny Monkey Flower |website=Minnesota Wildflowers |date=2022 |access-date=22 July 2022}} which bears leaves on petioles and has a winged stem. The herbage is hairless. The flower is {{convert|1|-|3|in|cm}} long, its tubular base encapsulated in a ribbed calyx of sepals with pointed lobes. The flower is lavender, blue, red or pink in color and is divided into an upper lip and a larger, swollen lower lip.

One variety of this plant, var. colophilus, is rare, ecologically restricted, and vulnerable. It is known from Quebec, it has been reported in Vermont, and there are a few occurrences in Maine, where it grows only in freshwater sections of tidal estuaries.{{cite web |title=CPC National Collection Plant Profile: Mimulus ringens var. colophilus |website=Center for Plant Conservation |date=4 March 2010 |archive-date=27 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027113727/http://centerforplantconservation.org/Collection/CPC_ViewProfile.asp?CPCNum=2856 |url=http://centerforplantconservation.org/Collection/CPC_ViewProfile.asp?CPCNum=2856 |url-status=dead}} This variety is distinguished by having shorter calyces than the ringens variety and by its short flower pedicels, {{convert|1|-|1.7|cm|in}} long versus a length of {{convert|2|-|3.5|cm|in}} in the nominate subspecies. This plant variety faces several threats, but its current status is not known due to a lack of data.{{cite journal |author=Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service |title=Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Review of Plant Taxa for Listing as Endangered or Threatened Species |journal=Federal Register |volume=58 |issue=188 |date=30 September 1993 |page=51176 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1993-09-30/pdf/FR-1993-09-30.pdf#page=148 |access-date=22 July 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.fws.gov/species/allegheny-monkeyflower-mimulus-ringens-var-colpophilus |website=U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |title=Allegheny Monkeyflower |access-date=22 July 2022}}