Monkeyflower Family [Phrymaceae] |
status
flower
inner
morph
petals
type
stem
stem
smell
none now
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
As with all Monkeyflowers, Musk grows in shallow wet places and besides streams, and here is no exception - it is on the moors at just below the 400m contour beside a slow-flowing wet flush with rushes nearby. |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowers are smaller and not as conspicuous as are those of other Monkeyflowers. |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
With stems decumbent or ascending. |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
Your Author failed to notice that the five petals were slightly zygomorphic and first incorrectly thought they were some kind of Primula such as Cowslip (Primula veris). |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
But the leaves are nothing like those of any Primula, instead being very much like those of some other Monkeyflowers, but with a narrower aspect ratio. (A rush stalk with inflorescence is on the left). |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves paler green than those of other Monkeyflowers and more deeply and irregularly toothed. Flowers have long tubes enclosed within long sepal tubes before opening out. |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The whole plant is covered in glandular hairs. Corolla petals rounded and almost equal in length, but the upper two are slightly smaller and held at a differing angle. |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
Teeth on leaves irregular, blunt to rounded, sometimes cuspidate. |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
The calyx teeth are approximately of equal length. Flower hairy inside, with only small reddish-orange markings. Corolla less than 2.5cm across. |
9th Sept 2016, Middlemoor, Lofthouse, Nidderdale, Yorks. | Photo: © RWD |
16th June 2015, a windy hillside. | Photo: © Annie Honjo |
A higher density of flowering than the specimen your Author found. |
Not to be semantically confused with : Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans), Musk Stork's-bill (Erodium moschatum), Musk Orchid (Herminium monorchis), Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature :
It is claimed to have lost its musky (not to be confused with musty) scent sometime in the mid 19th Century, no longer possessing this characteristic. But it is also claimed that only 50% of the human population can detect any one of several musk scents in any case. [There are many natural molecules possessing a musk odour: many are macrocyclic lactones or macrocyclic ketones (which are more odorous) whilst yet others are polycyclic molecules (some derived from 'animals' such as deer, muskrat, civets, musk duck, musk shrew, musk turtle and musk beetle) whilst others are derived from plants such as the plant described here, Musk, Muskwood (Olearia agrophylla) native to Australia, and Musk seeds from (Abelmoscus moschatus) which is native to India, and Garden Angelica (Angelica archangelica) which is also musky-smelling containing macrocyclic |
Mimulus | moschatus | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Phrymaceae |
Mimulus (Monkeyflowers) |
Monkeyflower Family [Phrymaceae] |