Erythranthe taylorii

Annuals, filiform-taprooted. Stems erect, straight at nodes, simple or few-branched from base, 5–10 cm, sparsely eglandular-villous proximally, becoming sparsely short-stipitate-glandular distally. Leaves usually cauline, basal not persistent, largest at mid-stem or basal and mid-stem to nearly even-sized; petiole 3–5 (–8) mm; blade often purple adaxially, palmately 3–5-veined, broadly ovate to elliptic-ovate or ovatelanceolate, 4–20 × 4–12 mm, base rounded to truncate, margins serrate-dentate, teeth 2–4 per side, shallow, apex rounded to obtuse or acute, surfaces: distals moderately short-stipitate-glandular. Flowers herkogamous, sometimes plesiogamous, 2–6 (–8), from proximal to distal nodes. Fruiting pedicels divergent to arcuate-divergent, 6–13 mm. Fruiting calyces wing-angled, tubular-campanulate, 4–5 mm, margins distinctly toothed or lobed, densely invested with tiny, waxy-white, eglandular, papillose hairs between angles, lobes pronounced, erect. Corollas yellow, throat ceiling sometimes red-spotted or lined, abaxial limb yellow or with 1 or 2 red splotches, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate; tube-throat funnelform, 5–7 mm, exserted beyond calyx margin. Styles glabrous. Anthers included, glabrous. Capsules included, 3–4 mm.

Phenology: Flowering Feb–May.
Habitat: Crevices in limestone cliff faces and outcrops.
Elevation: 900–1100 m.

Calif.

Discussion

Erythranthe taylorii is known only from the Shasta Lake region of northwestern Shasta County. Its broad, distinctly bilabiate corollas and ovate leaf blades with palmate venation are similar to those of species of the northern group of sect. Mimulosma, the "Columbia River clade" (J. B. Whittall et al. 2006) of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, particularly to the Idaho endemic E. ampliata. Erythranthe taylorii is distinct from E. ampliata in its larger, papillose calyces, shorter fruiting pedicels, corollas with shorter tube-throats, and shorter capsules. Considerable corolla color variation exists in E. taylorii in the occurrence and density of red dots and lines on the throat ceiling and larger red splotches on the abaxial limb.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa