Erythranthe lewisii(Mimulus lewisii), commonly known as Lewis's Monkeyflower, was among the species collected on Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery Expedition in the early 1800s. It is a perennial forb that typically reaches about 3.5 feet in height. E. lewisii occurs from SE Alaska to Alberta, and south to California, Utah, and Colorado. Its preferred habitat is among rocks and boulders, frequently alongside mountain streams.
Leaves show opposite phyllotaxy, have serrated edges, and present with prominent palmate venation.
Flowers have five petals, which are fused into short corolla tubes. Petals are bright pink in color, with some populations showing white coloration around the mouth of the corolla.The ventral petal also has a bright yellow nectar guide to signal to bumblebee pollinators.
E. lewisii is a model for the study of pollinator-mediated selection and speciation; its sister species E. cardinalis is hummingbird pollinated, and thus has developed bright red coloration, narrower corolla tubes, and larger volumes of nectar compared toE. lewisii. However, the two species can still be crossed in the laboratory, and thus speciation genes can be studied.
E. lewisiiis also becoming a genetic model system, which has several advantages over traditional model systems likeArabidopsis.
Erythranthe lewisii (Lewis' monkeyflower, great purple monkeyflower) is a perennial plant in the family Phrymaceae. It is named in honor of explorer Meriwether Lewis. Together with other species in Erythranthe, it serves as a model system for studying pollinator-based reproductive isolation. It was formerly known as Mimulus lewisii.[1][2][3][4]
Erythranthe lewisii is a perennial herb, with stem length ranging from 25 to 80 cm and individual leaves ranging from 20 to 70 mm. The vegetative tissue is covered with fine hairs. The flowers are medium in size, set on fairly long (30–70 mm) pedicels, and range in color from pale pink (generally found in the Sierra Nevada populations, sometimes separated as Erythranthe erubescens G.L.Nesom) to dark magenta (more common in the Cascade Range and Rocky Mountains populations), with a central pair of carotenoid-rich yellow nectar guides covered in trichomes on the lower lobe of the corolla. Occasional populations of white-flowered individuals (which do not express anthocyanin pigments in the corolla) are known.[5][6][7]
Erythranthe lewisii is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Colorado, where it grows in moist habitat such as stream banks,[8] and is generally found at higher elevations in montane areas.[9]
Erythranthe lewisii is pollinated by bees (primarily Bombus and Osmia), which feed off of its nectar and transfer its pollen. Although it is fully interfertile with its sister species, E. cardinalis, the two do not interbreed in the wild, a difference ascribed primarily to pollinator differences (E. cardinalis is pollinated by hummingbirds) in areas of overlap.[10][11][12]
This plant is cultivated as an ornamental in mild or coastal areas, as it does not tolerate prolonged freezing. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[13] It prefers a very damp soil in full sunlight.
Native Americans ate the leaves of the plant.[14]
Erythranthe lewisii (Lewis' monkeyflower, great purple monkeyflower) is a perennial plant in the family Phrymaceae. It is named in honor of explorer Meriwether Lewis. Together with other species in Erythranthe, it serves as a model system for studying pollinator-based reproductive isolation. It was formerly known as Mimulus lewisii.