CARDINAL MONKEYFLOWER 
Mimulus cardinalis Douglas 
If fortune favors, and you visit the Grand Canyon at the proper 
season of the year, you will find the brilliant cardinal monkeyflower 
in full glory at the Indian Gardens. Following down Bright Angel 
Trail with its many switchbacks and majestic panoramas of the can- 
yon walls, you come to this comparatively level oasis, where a stream 
flows from a kindlyspring. Here one can appreciate what water means 
to a dry country. Luxuriant trees and flowets hug the borders of the 
stream, and the eye can follow its course by the green fringe until the 
last trickle of water disappears in the ground. The catdinal monkey- 
flower, a tepresentative of the Figwort Family, is attractive not only 
on account of the brilliant color of the blossoms, but also because of 
the lush growth of rich green leaves and stems that form a fitting 
background for the flowers. 
Its range is from Mexico to western New Mexico and California, 
and northward to Oregon. 
The plant painted was obtained near the spring mentioned above, 
in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. 
PLATE 395 
