Sharpwing Monkey-flower
Mimulus alatus
Found in marshes, bottomlands, ditches. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- 2–5 feet
- Spread
- 9 inches–1.5 feet
- Light
- Part sun
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
Space about 1 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 100 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Bloom
- June to November
- Fruiting season
- Summer to fall
Not yet recorded · Life cycle · Leaves
Recorded in 7 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Mimulus
- Elaphria chalcedoniaChalcedony Midget
- Elaphria fuscimaculaBrown-Spotted Midget
- Euphydryas phaetonThe Baltimore, The Black Checker
- Junonia coeniaCommon Buckeye
- Junonia neildiMangrove Buckeye
- Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
2BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Mimulus
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Mimulus
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Phrymaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5–8
- Flower color
- Blue
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth habit
- Single stem
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Fall
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “June to November” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Blue” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Fall” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Single stem” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Rapid” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Hardiness · “Zones 5–8” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- Height · “2–5 feet” · Tennessee Smart Yards (ranked first; USDA PLANTS, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ) · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- Light · “Part sun” · Tennessee Smart Yards (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs) · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- primary_flower_color · “blue” · USDA PLANTS
- Soil · “moderately wet to moderately dry” · Tennessee Smart Yards (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs) · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- Spread · “9 inches–1.5 feet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
Also known as
Sharp Wing Monkey Flower; Sharpwing Monkey flower
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Growing cautions
- Spreads by rhizomes. Spreads at a moderate rate by re-seeding and at a slow rate by rhizomes. Tennessee Smart Yards
For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications