notes Spotted some intriguing color barely visible in the distance, and wandered off trail to investigate. Was thrilled to find this splendid population on a south-facing mountainside at about 8000' elevation. In the past I often confused Leptosiphon ciliatus and L. montanus...unsure of which was which? It seems that the gestalt of the flower color & pattern is fairly distinct for each species (in ''good representives''). But working through the keys and descriptions in various treatments didn't seem to help me much in clarifying which was which...especially when intra-specific variation yielded forms that graded toward one another. And with relatively depauperate plants, L. bicolor became a third confusing candidate thrown into the mix!
Perusal of posts under L. montanus and L. ciliatus on CalPhotos and elsewhere suggests I may not be alone in this difficulty!! But I think (or should I say, hope :-) that I've got it straight now.
As I presently understand things, Leptosiphon montanus is typically a larger, more branched and 'bushier' plant, with longer leaves. It typically has a paler lavender-to-white corolla, with a longer more flaring throat and limb, and with (often, but not always) apically rounded lobes, having more modest spots & markings. Also, contrary to its epithet, it's more of a Sierran foothill to low-montane species.
On the other hand, Leptosiphon ciliatus is typically a smaller plant with a more slender and 'vertical' habitus, and shorter leaves. It has a smaller corolla; typically with a shorter, narrower, throat; with the limb spreading more abruptly horizontally; with the lobes (often, but not always) somewhat truncate; and with more strikingly contrasting colors...both in hue & pattern. It can also grow at much higher elevations than L. montanus (the epithets for the two species should have been switched!)...and its geographic range in much larger (within the CA-FP, vs. just SNF for montanus).
