Mimulus Aurantiacus named Curious Orange #5

by J McCombie

Title

Mimulus Aurantiacus named Curious Orange #5

Artist

J McCombie

Medium

Photograph - Untouched

Description

This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, "Best of Botanical Beauty".
A colorful southern Oregon, California, and Baja California native, award-winning Mimulus aurantiacus (Bush Monkey Flower) is a bushy evergreen shrub with narrow, lanceolate, dark-green leaves typically 2-3 in. long (5-7 cm) on very sticky stems and flowering stems that grow vertically. Trumpet-shaped, the exuberant flowers, 1.2 in long (3 cm), are tubular at the base with five broad lobes. In spring through much of the summer the showy inch long orange funnel-shaped flowers are borne on upright stems and have two lips - the top lip is split once and the bottom lip is split twice resulting in five frilly petal lobes. They bloom profusely over a long season extending from spring through fall. The flowering plants with their wonderful face like flowers are quite beautiful in full glory and are also attractive to hummingbirds. They occur in a variety of shades including salmon-orange, yellow or orange-red. They are pollinated by bees and hummingbirds. Bush Monkey Flower is an ideal garden companion adding a touch of exoticism and a Mediterranean feel.
Winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society for its noteworthy qualities. Grows up to 3-4 ft. tall (90-120 cm) and 3 ft. wide (90 cm). Best in full sun or part shade in well-drained soils. Tolerant of difficult soils if adequate drainage is provided. Drought tolerant once established. A great choice for beds and borders, rock gardens. Lovely on a stone wall for a cascading effect. Deer resistant. Deadhead to increase flower production. Pinch back new growth in spring to maintain a more compact form. Propagate from seed or cuttings. Native to southern Oregon, California, and Baja California. Mimulus owe their common name to the shape and colors of their flowers that suggest "mime" (Latin "mimus") a monkey's face.
Often the plants can look a bit haggard later when not in bloom, so are best in areas where they can be enjoyed from a distance and left to dry out mid summer until rejuvenated by fall and winter rains. Some summer shade helps prolong flowering and foliage as does a spritz of water, but regular irrigation through summer usually shortens the plants life. Sticky Monkey-flower plant is native to southwestern North America from southwestern Oregon south through most of California. In Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties it integrates with the Southern Sticky monkey-flower, Mimulus longiflorus which ranges further south into Baja California.
In the newest treatment of the tribe Mimuleae, which includes Diplacus, Mimulus, and Mimetanthe, these plants have been removed from the Figwort family, Scrophulariaceae, and placed with the genus Phryma (previously included in Verbenaceae) into the new family Phrymaceae. The woody species of Mimulus that are the parents of most of the hybrids have been separated into the genus Diplacus in the past, then gone back to Mimulus, but in the current treatment in the UC Berkeley Jepson eFlora all of the woody Mimulus are back in the genus Diplacus. The original generic name is from the Latin word 'mimus' meaning "mimic actor" that is derived from the Greek word 'mimos' that means means "imitator" and references the flowers that look like painted faces. The name Diplacus comes from the Greek words 'di' meaning "two" or "double" and 'plax' or 'plakos' meaning "a flat round plate", "tablet" or "broad surface" in reference to the manner in with the fruit capsule splits.

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February 24th, 2023

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