A Barrel Full of Monkey Flowers

Desert or Bigelow Monkey Flower (M. bigelovii), like Lewis and Sharp-winged Monkey Flower, is pink and yellow, though in darker shades. Unlike those cousins, it is found in dry habitats. I found it in the western Mojave Desert as well as further south, in the Anza-Borrego Desert.

Wide-mouthed (M. brevipes) and Common or Seep-spring Monkey Flower (M. guttatus) both sport yellow blossoms, as do many monkey flower species. The former has large flowers with a wide throat while the latter has reddish spots near the throat.

The bush monkey flowers are everywhere and not easy to identify. I'm not sure how many such species there are, but I think I've come across three; those mentioned above. The most common seems to be Orange Bush or Sticky Monkey Flower (M. aurantiacus), which lines highways and byways and mountain paths and covers hillsides. While its flowers are usually orange, they can range to a darker shade of red-orange. The flowers of Red Bush Monkey Flower (M. puniceus) are easy to confuse with the darker flowers of Orange Bush monkey Flower, so easy, perhaps I am mistaken, but I don't think so. (Unless I am mistaken, in which case, never mind.) The flowers of Southern Bush Monkey Flower (M. longiflorus), at first glance come off as being Orange Bush Monkey Flower, but then you notice there is something vaguely different about them. Is it the petals? The color of the flowers? The size? In my case, it was the petals and the color. After a bit of researching, I have decided it was Southern Bush and not Orange Bush Monkey Flower.

My favorite, though, has undoubtedly been the Kelso Creek Monkey Flower (M. shevockii). Unlike these others, it is not primarily yellow or pink or red; its upper petals are a dark reddish-maroon while the lower are yellow with reddish-maroon spots. It is a small delicate flower which grows in a harsh day sandy habitat, and it is difficult to locate. All of these things make it a very special flower.

Kelso Creek Monkey Flower is an annual, and is limited to a small, 5-mile in diameter region in the southern Sierra Nevadas. There are perhaps only 10 known locations where it grows. It was not described until 1986. Prior to that, going back to 1932, it was either unidentified or misidentified. It is everything bush monkey flowers aren't, and vice versa, and has yet to

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