Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: Allegheny monkey flower
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Phrymaceae
Native Range: North America
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 1.00 to 3.00 feet
Spread: 0.75 to 1.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to September
Bloom Description: Lilac-purple
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Water Plant, Naturalize, Rain Garden
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Deer, Wet Soil
Culture
Grow in moist to wet soils in full sun to part shade. Best in part shade. Naturalizes in optimum growing conditions by both self-seeding and creeping rhizomes.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Mimulus ringens, commonly called Allegheny monkey flower or square-stemmed monkey flower, is a rhizomatous, Missouri native, upright perennial which typically occurs in swampy areas, wet meadows, pond/streambanks and low woods throughout the State. Typically grows 1-3' (less frequently to 4') tall on erect, square, sometimes branching stems. Features lilac-purple, snapdragon-like flowers (to 1" long) with two-lipped, open-mouthed corollas. Flowers appear in pairs in the leaf axils on slender 1-2" long pedicels. Each flower purportedly resembles the face of a smiling monkey (hence the common name). Flowers bloom throughout the summer. Sessile, opposite leaves (2-4" long) are oblong to lanceolate and sharply-toothed.
Genus name comes from the Latin diminutive of mimus meaning a mimic as they look like a monkey face.
Specific epithet means to gape in reference to the flowers that look like a wide-open mouth.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Best naturalized in moist to wet soils in water gardens, bog gardens, wet meadows, water margins or low spots. May be grown in moist soils in borders as long as soils do not dry out.