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Calico Monkeyflower

Diplacus pictus

Calico Monkeyflower
Photo: John Rusk from Berkeley, CA, United States of America, CC BY 2.0

Calico monkeyflower is a small annual wildflower native only to a few counties in southern California, growing in open oak woodland on bare rocky granite soils. It is rare and listed as endangered, so it is best appreciated in the wild or grown only from responsibly sourced seed.

Family
Phrymaceae (Phrym family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Needs little water; keep soil lightly moist while seedlings establish, then let it dry between rains.
Soil
Well-drained, sandy or gritty soil with low fertility, similar to rocky granite-derived ground.
Temperature
Tolerates cool to warm conditions typical of its Mediterranean-type climate; frost tolerance is not well documented.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
California
Climate
temperate

About

Diplacus pictus is a species of monkeyflower known by the common name calico monkeyflower.

Where it grows

The wildflower is endemic to California, found only above the southeastern San Joaquin Valley within Kern County and Tulare County.

Other Diplacus plants

Narrowleaf Pansy Monkeyflower · San Diego bush monkeyflower · Diplacus × australis · Harlequin Monkeyflower · Bigelow's Monkeyflower · Bolander's Monkeyflower · Santa Cruz Island Monkeyflower · Wide Throat Yellow Monkey Flower · Kaweah River bush monkeyflower · Cascade Monkeyflower · Cleveland's bush monkeyflower · North Idaho Monkeyflower

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Diplacus pictus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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