A new species of monkey flower discovered in the Sierra Nevada!

I am the editor of Madroño, the Journal of the California Botanical Society. In the most recent issue Jay Sexton, Katie Ferris, and Steve Schoenig, published their discovery of the fern-leaved monkeyflower (Mimulus filicifolius). It’s a new species with finely divided, bi-pinnately compound leaves found in the northwestern Sierra Nevada where it occurs mostly on ephemeral seeps in rock outcrops.

Mimulus filicifolius is highly restricted, known only from Butte and Plumas Counties within the Plumas National Forest, and should therefor be considered in future conservation strategies.

As new botanical discoveries like this one are made, revised treatments for the Jepson Manual will be published online at the Jepson eFlora.

− Matt Ritter