YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 



(yellow) ^ (red) 



53 



FALSE SNAPDRAGON 



MONKEY-FLOWER 



False Snapdragon (Mimulus). Properly speak- 

 ing, this plant should be classed as a monkey-flower, 

 with the species next described. It grows in wet plac- 

 es, usually in the open. A favorite and very peculiar 

 location is along the run-off streams from the geysers 

 and hot springs, the plant standing with its very roots 

 in the warm water. The stem grows to a height of 

 about a foot, bearing pairs of smooth, broad, sharply 

 toothed leaves. The flowers are about an inch long, 

 tubular at the base, cleft into a flaring, two-lipped face 

 at the end. They are yellow in color, and bloom from 

 June until August. 



Monkey-Flower (Mimulus). There are several 

 species of monkey-flower, of which this red one is the 

 most striking and conspicuous. It likes moist places, 

 and is very frequent in roadside ditches and along the 

 banks of streams. It averages about eighteen inches 

 in height, and its leaves are narrower and more pointed 

 than those of the preceding species, but have fewer 

 teeth. The whole plant is slightly hairy and some- 

 what sticky. The flowers are of about the same shape 

 as those of the false snapdragon, but two or three 

 times as large, and deep rose-red in color. The flow- 

 ering season is about the same. 



