1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
T 69 
The Scarlet Monkey-Flower. 
(Mimulus cardinalis.) 
“Monkey-flower ” is neither an elegant name, nor 
is it descriptive for our plant. The genus was named 
Mimulus by Linnaeus, because the corolla in some 
species has a remote resemblance to a grinning 
face, and while some authors suppose that he 
took the name from the Greek for ape, others think 
it was from the Latin for mime, or mimic ; at all 
events the name has been translated into Monkey- 
flower too long for us to try to alter it. In the At- 
it branches freely, is about as broad as tall. The 
engraving of the upper end of a branch of the nat¬ 
ural size, shows its general appearance. There is, 
to us, something very pleasing in the aspect of this 
plant; the leaves, being clothed with somewhat 
sticky, minute hairs, have a pale and tender green, 
against which the flowers show in striking con¬ 
trast ; the color of the flowers is a most peculiar 
scarlet; it is bright and lively, without being in¬ 
tense. In Europe, where it is more cultivated than 
with us, several varieties have been obtained with 
flowers ranging from orange to dark-reddish pur¬ 
ple. The stigma of this flower (the terminal por- 
there are many unattractive ones, we claim thiA 
there are a few really desirable species. Among 
the most interesting and showy of the many Sun¬ 
flowers is Hdianthus orgycdis. Helianthus is easily 
translated into Sunflower, but when we came to 
And an appropriate equivalent for orgyalis, we 
were puzzled; the word means “ the hight of a 
man,” but “Man-high Sunflower,” or even “Six- 
foot Sunflower,” would hardly do. In considering 
what name would be best for a plant likely to be¬ 
come more or less popular, we were glad to find the 
difficulty removed. Mr. Robinson, in his work ou 
“Hardy Flowers,” had already given it a name— 
lantic States we have two native species of Mimu¬ 
lus, but their pale-purplish flowers are not showy ; 
in Michigan and westward there is a yellow-flower¬ 
ed one; and still further west, the number of 
species increases, until on the Pacific coast they be¬ 
come so numerous as to number about 23. Proba¬ 
bly the best known Mimulus is M. moschatus, the 
“Musk-plant,” so often abbreviated to “Musk,” 
that many suppose the drug with all-powerful odor, 
some call it perfume, to be from this vegetable, in¬ 
stead of being unpleasantly animal. The Scarlet 
Monkey-flower, a native of Oregon and California, 
has been in cultivation for nearly half a century, 
but, like many other good things, has been pushed 
aside by newer comers. We saw it in its wild state 
many years ago, but never happened to cultivate it 
until last year. The plant was unintentionally left 
out last fall, and, as the succeeding winter was un¬ 
usually mild, it came up last spring with great 
vigor, and has all summer given a continuous 
bloom, which has not ceased up to the time we 
write—Oct. 25th. It can not be relied upon as 
quite hardy, and it is safer to make new plants from 
cuttings to keep over the winter in the greenhouse. 
In its native localities the plant is two to four feet 
high, but in cultivation is rarely over a foot, and, as 
tion of the pistil, which receives the pollen) is very 
sensitive. Instead of a blunt end or knob, as in 
most flowers, the stigma consists of two egg-shaped 
plates, as seen in the engraving; these spread apart 
when the flower is in “ full blow,” but whenever 
pollen falls upon the inner surface of these plates, 
they suddenly close ; they are so irritable that the 
same movement takes place when they are touched 
by a 6mall splinter, or any other hard substance. 
The Graceful Sunflower. 
(Helianthus orgyalis). 
Those whose knowledge of Sunflowers is confined 
to the common annual species— the Sunflower—can 
hardly conceive of a graceful one. Some plants 
appear to be associated with certain surroundings 
and to belong to shiftless, “ ne’er do weel ” people. 
The dwelling of such is often surrounded by a 
dilapidated fence, within which Sunflowers and 
“ Love-lies-bleeding ” suggest that even in a house 
where old hats and rags supply the place of win¬ 
dow-panes, there is some one who has a love for 
flowers, however coarse they may be. But all Sun¬ 
flowers are not coarse, and while we admit that 
“ The Graceful Sunflower ”—which is not at all in¬ 
appropriate. We had known this species for several 
years, but had not especially noticed its beauty 
until we saw the past autumn, at the Cambridge 
Botanic Garden, a fine clump of it, 10 or 12 feet 
high, where it was contrasted with a large number 
of other species of Sunflower, and easily outshone 
them all. Later we saw it in the herbaceous per¬ 
ennial grounds of Woolson & Co., Passaic, N. J., 
where, with the coarser, but even more abundant 
I flowering Helianthus Maximilliani, it made a fine 
show. The plant is perennial; a well established 
root will throw up a cluster of a dozen or more 
stems which reach far above a “man’s hight,” be¬ 
ing from 8 to 12 feet in good soil; they bear an 
abundance of leaves quite unlike those of the or¬ 
dinary Sunflower, being sessile (without a leaf¬ 
stalk), about 0 inches long, and not over an inch 
wide. The flowers (properly heads of flowers) are 
about 3 inches across, and upon long stalks; the 
showy portion, or r'ays, being of a lively, cheerful 
yellow. For clumps upon a large lawn this is a 
most effective plant, and from its great hight it may 
be used for the center of ornamental groups os 
bold plants, as it is without the coarseness that ir 
herbaceous plants usually accompanies size, and it 
