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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Sunday - August 05, 2007

From: Mamaroneck, NY
Region: Northeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Botanical name for \
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

A friend gave me a garden flower plant called "clown face". What is the botanical name and where can I get info about it?

ANSWER:

According to the Garden Detective of sacbee.com (the web page of the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California) "Clown Face" is Mimulus x hybridus, a hybrid of M. luteus (a native of South America, but naturalized in Britain) and M. guttatus (a native of North America). (A synonym for M. x hybridus is M. tigrinus and another common name is "monkey flower".) In addition to the information from the Garden Detective of the Sacramento Bee, you can find more information about caring for M. x hybridus from the National Home Gardening Club.
 

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