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 kindly spring. Here one can appreciate what water means 

 to a dry country. Luxuriant trees and flowers 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 cardinal monkey- 

 flower, a representative 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 



