By far the hardest flower for me to photograph! There are red and orange Monkey flowers along our walk that I've tried to capture hundreds of times. Here's my best shot and some info from Wikipedia and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy:
Diplacus aurantiacus grows up to 1.2 meters (4 feet) tall, has deep green, sticky leaves 3 to 7 centimeters long and up to a centimeter broad and flowering stems that grow vertically. The flowers are tubular at the base and about 2 centimeters long with five broad lobes; they occur in a variety of shades from white to red, the most common color being a light orange.
They are honey plants pollinated by bees and hummingbirds. The stickiness of the leaves and sepals comes from glandular secretions. This resin, which makes up almost 30% of the leaf’s weight, helps to lessen the impact of an herbivorous threat: the larvae of specialist butterfly Euphydryas chalcedona. Resin production in the leaves fluctuates seasonally with the laying of butterfly eggs whose larvae are raised on the sticky monkey-flower plant. During the wet season, the larvae emerge and begin to feed on the nutritious spring leaves of the evergreen shrub. Nutrient levels as well as resin production in the leaves are high during this period of new growth. The resin that the larvae consume inhibits their growth, and protects the plant to some degree. In the early summer, the plant begins to allocate its energy towards flowering, away from the leaves, and the larvae stop feeding.
As it does not tolerate freezing temperatures, it is often grown under glass in temperate zones.
In the UK it has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The Miwok and Pomo Native Americans used the plant to treat minor ailments such as sores, burns, diarrhea, and eye irritation.
