Month: November 2015

The common yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus DC, is a herbaceous plant that lives in moist or wet places. It is native to North America, and can be found in the west from Baja California to Alaska.

The wide range of distribution of M. guttatus is paralleled by an impressive amount of variation in its morphology, physiology and life history. From small plants living in poor rocky soils, to large, fleshy individuals of riverbanks and streams, M. guttatus can be found in diverse places such as the geysers of Yellowstone, or in Alaskan streams.

Langsdorff (aka Grigori von Langsdorff) was a Prussian naturalist that explored the Aleutian chain in the first years of the 19th century. Part of one of the first attempts at circumnavigating the world, Langsdorff worked as the onboard naturalist of Russian expeditions in Alaska.

Historical records suggest that Langsdorff was the first to bring the common yellow monkey flower (Mimulus guttatus DC) into Europe.