A pretty, long-blooming, monkey-faced flower that thrives in mud—sign us up! Allegheny monkeyflower is often found in ditches and wet areas, and the blue-violet, two-lipped flowers that resemble a smiling monkey’s face bloom for up to six weeks between June and September. The herbaceous perennial has square-shaped stems and attractive, narrow leaves (another common name is square-stem monkeyflower). Also known as estuary monkeyflower, it thrives in consistently moist or wet, loamy soils and at least 6 hours of sunlight. It grows 1 to 3 feet tall depending on soil moisture and fertility; consistent moisture is proportional to the plant’s ability to flourish. Some gardeners have successfully grown it in flower borders with drier conditions, although the plant doesn’t spread as far or as quickly. The root system consists of a taproot and fibrous rhizomes and stolons that gradually form dense mats.
 
In addition to moisture level, insect pollinators are vital to the expansion and resilience of Allegheny monkeyflower. Research has shown that reproduction is suppressed when monkeyflower is grown near the invasive purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) because bumble bee pollinators of monkeyflower favor the flowers of purple loosestrife over those of the native plant.
 
Allegheny monkeyflower is the most abundant native monkeyflower species in eastern North America. Its range covers much of the northeastern US as far west as the Great Plains and excluding the Deep South. The genus name comes from the Latin word mimus, which means “buffoon” or “mimic.” Ringens means “you gape” referring to the open-mouthed appearance of the corolla. Other common names for the plant are blue monkeyflower and ringen monkeyflower. 
 
Native habitats include wet meadows, fresh tidal marshes, swamps and wetlands, and shores of lakes and streams. Best when used to naturalize rain or water gardens, wet meadows, banks of water features, and low spots or borders with consistent moisture. 
 
Plant Characteristics:
Grows 1-3’ tall and 8-12” wide.
 
Prefers full or part sun.
 
Prefers moist to wet, loamy soils. Tolerates drier soils.
 
Blooms June-September with paired flowers arising from upper-leaf axils. Color can be violet blue, pink, or occasionally white. Each flower is up to 1.5” long and bilaterally symmetrical with an erect, 2-lobed upper lip and spreading, 3-lobed lower lip; tubular, green, 5-angled calex; 4 stamens; threadlike style; and 2-lobed stigma. Pollinated flowers remain closed. Fruit is dry, rounded, cylindrical capsule with tiny, black-tipped seeds that are dispersed by water and wind.
 
Simple, opposite leaves are 2-4” long, narrow, and lanceolate shaped with a rounded base and pointed apex. Some leaves clasp the stem. Margins are finely and sharply toothed. Leaves become smaller as they ascend the stem.
 
Stem is square but not conspicuously winged, and roots are rhizomatous.
 
Reproductive System: Has both male and female reproductive organs (hermaphroditic). It can both self-fertilize and outcross.
 
Wildlife Value:
Host plant to larvae of 5 Lepidoptera species, including common buckeye, Baltimore checkerspot, and chalcedony midget moth. Pollinated by bumble bees, which are one of the few insects strong enough to force their way into the partially closed throat of the corolla. Larger plants provide cover for wildlife.
 
Medicinal, Edible, and Other Uses:
Native Americans and early settlers used the plant to treat epilepsy, skin irritations, and minor burns, including rope burns. A wash was used to counteract poisons.
 
Young leaves and stems were eaten as salad greens. Because the plant absorbs sodium chloride salt from the soil, the ashes of the dried and burned leaves were used as a salt substitute.
 
Resources:
British Ecological Society: 
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2004.00812.x#:~:text=Mimulus%20ringens%20is%20self%2Dcompatible,stoloniferous%20rhizomes%20(Karron%20et%20al
 
Go Botany:
https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/mimulus/ringens/
 
Indiana Native Plants Society
: https://Indiananativeplants.org
 
Illinois Wildflowers: 
https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/monkeyflower.htm#:~:text=Monkey%20Flower%20(Mimulus%20ringens)&text=Description%3A%20This%20perennial%20plant%20is,they%20are%20not%20conspicuously%20winged
 
Lady Johnson Wildflower Center
: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MIRI
 
Midwest Groundcovers
: Facebook, Midwest Groundcovers
 
National Wildlife Federation
: https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/Plants/2187
 
WFO Plant List
: https://wfoplantlist.org/taxon/wfo-7000000460-2024-12?page=1