Tooth-Leaved Monkeyflower

 

A rare and beautiful flower, the yellow tooth-leaved monkeyflower (Erythranthe dentata), in Canada, is restricted to a handful of valleys on southwestern Vancouver Island. This diminutive rainforest resident prefers the rich floodplain forests that grow along the valley bottoms, which are home to the largest and most magnificent old-growth trees. These forests are now exceedingly rare, as their massive trees have been a target for logging for well over 100 years, leaving the flower as a blue-listed species of concern.

However, during springtime in BC, you still might catch a glimpse of the tooth-leaved monkeyflower brightening the forest floor in places such as the Nitinat River Provincial Park in Ditidaht territory; its pretty petals a tiny but lovely emblem of these grand and once-abundant ancient forests.