Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Chickweed Monkeyflower

This bright little flower can be found in moist places, and on our property, there is a very wet area where water comes down off our hillside, through our meadow, and then washes over large slabs of exposed rock. Moss adheres to the rock and on the moss grow other plants, including monkeyflowers!

Here's another view of this lovely little blossom, fringed with dew! So pretty and delicate!

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[best appreciated at full size against black] Every year at this time, the moss and grass-covered area around our granite valley begins to take on color. At first, there are the twinkling white Spring Whitlow Grass and Spring Sandwort flowers to ring in the season. Then, as of about a week ago, a flash of yellow can be seen here and there, which will soon erupt into a carpet of tiny yellow flowers that resemble tiny orchids to me! The Chickweed Monkeyflower has begun to bloom!! YAY!! I was very excited to see these tiny jewels begin to appear, and I had a very hard time taking pictures of them last year. This bud represents my first attempt at photographing this tiny flower bud, which measures about 1/3" in length and about 1/8" in diameter unopened. The Chickweed Monkeyflower is in the genus "Mimulus," includes about 150 species and can be found world-wide. They get their name from the resemblance of some species to a monkey's face. This species is found in places where the ground is very wet, and are only found here on our property. Rain water runs down off of our hillside, through the meadow and down through the valley below, making this area almost bog-like during sprintime. I was interested to find out that monkeyflowers accumulate salt in their leaves and stems, and were used as a salt substitute to flavor wild game by Native Americans and pioneers. It also has medicinal uses; the juice squeezed from the plant's foliage has been used as a soothing poultice for minor burns and skin irritations. If you would like to know more about monkeyflowers, Wiki has a great source of information here: Wiki: Monkeyflower (Mimulus) . This image was taken in March, 2012.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a pictured of a very tiny Chickweed Monkeyflower bud, just about to open. Here it is, arms open wide and face to the sun. This tiny little flower measures only about 1/4" across and is one of the very smallest monkey flower species! I think they are so beautiful, and yet, their size, bright color and my inexperience made it impossible for me to take a good picture with my Canon SX30 last year! Yay for having a better camera!! I'm so pleased with this image and I hope you like it too! The Chickweed Monkeyflower is in the genus "Mimulus," includes about 150 species and can be found world-wide. They get their name from the resemblance of some species to a monkey's face. This species is found in places where the ground is very wet, and are only found here on our property. Rain water runs down off of our hillside, through the meadow and down through the valley below, making this area almost bog-like during sprintime. I was interested to find out that monkeyflowers accumulate salt in their leaves and stems, and were used as a salt substitute to flavor wild game by Native Americans and pioneers. It also has medicinal uses; the juice squeezed from the plant's foliage has been used as a soothing poultice for minor burns and skin irritations. If you would like to know more about monkeyflowers, Wiki has a great source of information here: Wiki: Monkeyflower (Mimulus) . This image was taken in April, 2012.

I wandered down to our granite valley this morning to see if the Monkeyflowers were starting to bloom and it wasn't long before I found the bright yellow flowers starting to open up! As an added bonus, they were covered with morning dew!