Monkeyflowers are unusual in having a peculiar two-lobed stigma that is irritable when touched. A bee entering a flower brushes first against the stigma, whose two lobes fold together quickly and lie tightly pressed against the upper surface of the corolla tube. In so doing, the stigma with its pollen load is positioned in a way that makes the bee come into contact with the flower's anthers which lie behind the lower stigmatic lobe. This active movement mechanism insures pollen reception by the stigma and pollen deposition on the insect for subsequent flower visits.
DISTRIBUTION: Common in moist places near seepage areas and streams from NW Calif. and the Cascade Ranges to the Modoc Plateau and High Sierra Nevada south to the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mts.; 1200-3400 m.
