In the complex world of wildflower identification, the sticky monkey flower is a life saver. How could you forget such an easy name?

The blooming season at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center is rather long, so you will have a pretty good chance of seeing their happy little faces on many trails all the way from the start of spring to the end of August, if the plant is in a shady spot. Rare are the flowers that have such a reliable and long blooming season.

Why the strange name of monkey flower? If you look carefully, you are supposed to see the face of a monkey in the shape of the flower. I have looked for years and still cannot get it, but your imagination might be better than mine, so give it a try.

The Latin name is Mimulus aurantiacus; mimus means “mimic actor” from the Greek “minos” meaning “imitator,” so a long time ago, people saw the monkey face clearly … I guess.

The flowers have four to five petals, but the corolla (the face of the flower) seems to have two main divisions, resembling a laughing monkey’s face. The upper lip of the corolla has two lobes bent up, and the lower lip has three lobes bent down.

The blossoms are 1 to 2 inches wide and almost luminescent yellow and pale orange – which cannot be missed in the sea of dusty green from the chaparral. The stems are covered with bilaterally symmetrical flowers, so you always have a little bushy bouquet ready to look at. Thus the other common name of bush monkey flower.

It is a plant very well adapted to the chaparral but will grow in any kind of soil, even serpentine, which is a harsh environment for most plants. It goes dormant in the hot summer months but comes back in the spring.

Monkey flowers attract hummingbirds, so they are a beautiful addition to any garden that is trying to go on the native Californian path and feed the native wildlife. They are supposed to be deer-resistant. The word “resistant” should be highlighted because a hungry deer will eat anything – as I have learned the hard way.

Why the name “sticky” monkey flower? The leaves are sticky with a resin that protects them from drying out in the hot sun. It gives them a beautiful, glossy appearance. The leaves are covered with fine hairs, and the resin also protects the plant from being eaten by insects. Resin makes up 30 percent of the weight of the leaves, so they are really sticky and can stick to your clothing for hours (always a fun little trick to be played on an unsuspecting hiking partner). The production of resin is more intense in the spring during new growth and diminishes somewhat with the addition of the flowers.

It is the host plant for the butterfly Euphydryas chalcedona.

It is a beautiful little plant covered with many blossoms, and that should make us happy just seeing that – but there is something very weird and interesting about the blossoms, even if you are still struggling seeing the monkey face. You can make those flowers move.

Take a blade of grass and touch the flower’s white, two-part stigma. The blossom will close up “thinking” it has been fertilized by a bee or a hummingbird bringing pollen from another flower.

What is even more interesting is that the plant will know that no pollen was deposited and will reopen. You can do that a few times and you will see it close and reopen until the pollen is really deposited; then it will close for good because its job is done. It provides a protective little chamber for the pollen to begin its growth and the fruits or seeds to develop.

Not too many plants move at your stimulation, so that is a fun little experiment to do. It is a visual cue that is convenient for plant breeders to know what plants have been pollinated or not.

Native Americans had many uses for the monkey flower, but mainly it was used to disinfect wounds. The leaves would be crushed and applied to sores and burns. That was the most frequent use, but the roots have also been used to treat fever and diarrhea. However, they also saw them as really beautiful little ornaments that they would put in their hair. I guess the sticky leaves help them to hang on there for a while.

Sticky monkey flower: one of most friendly, cheerful and reliable California natives that will bring you a smile when you see it on the trail.

Evelyne Vandersande has been a docent at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center since 1986. She lives in Newhall.