Data from: Floral color variation across life history and geography in Mimulus ringens (Phrymaceae)

With these data, we explore the possibility that both floral color and life history have shifted together in a recently described, genetically distinct group within the species Mimulus ringens. Using a large, range-wide citizen science dataset, we test for geographic trends in flower color and flowering time. We combine this with greenhouse studies in populations of known life history to test for differences in flower color with life history. We show that darker-flowered plants are more common at higher latitudes, that annual-like populations have darker flowers, and that flowering time varies with latitude only in the subset of populations that have lighter flowers. This suggests that annual-like populations (with the earlier flowering time typical of this life history) are restricted to the northern part of the species range, and likely arose there.