About Erythranthe shevockii (Heckard & Bacig.) N.S.Fraga
Erythranthe shevockii is an annual herb that reaches up to about 12 centimeters tall, with a very slender, often red stem. Its oppositely arranged oval leaves are each no more than one centimeter long, and sometimes fuse together in pairs around the stem. The tubular base of the flower is enclosed in a red or red-spotted calyx made of sepals. The flower is roughly one centimeter long, with a narrow tube throat and a wide face. The corolla is split into a deep maroon red upper lip and a wider lower lip that is yellow with red dots. This plant sometimes hybridizes with its relative, Mimulus androsaceus. Erythranthe shevockii is endemic to the southern Sierra Nevada in Kern County, California, where it is known from around 10 occurrences near Lake Isabella. It grows in granitic alluvial soils in dry washes and Joshua tree woodlands in the transition zone between the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave Desert.
