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. , Greenhouse study             We assessed flower color in two ways: anthocyanin extractions and photographic analyses. We obtained 22 individual plants from six populations from the Sobel Laboratory of SUNY Binghamton University. Three populations had been previously identified as perennials and three populations as annual-like. Flowers were collected from September to November 2021.            Plants were vernalized for six weeks at 4ºC and moved on August 9 2021 to the greenhouse in the Loyola Science Center at the University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA, where they were kept in 16 hour days (28ºC) and 8 hour nights (18ºC) until flowering was complete. Water levels were monitored daily and plants were bottom-watered when their trays appeared dry. If an individual’s leaves turned brown, the plant was immediately repotted to regulate soil pH. Plants were sprayed with Neem Oil when spider mites appeared.            Flowers were sampled every other day throughout the flowering ..., , # Data from: Floral color variation across life history and geography in Mimulus ringens (Phrymaceae)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.37pvmcvr6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.37pvmcvr6)

Give a brief summary of dataset contents, contextualized in experimental procedures and results.

## Description of the data and file structure

GENERAL INFORMATION
1\. Title of Dataset: Data from: Floral color variation across life history and geography in Mimulus ringens \(Phrymaceae\)
2\. Author Information
Corresponding Investigator
Name: Dr. Anne Royer
Institution: University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, USA
800 Linden St., Scranton, PA, 18510
570-941-7469
[e-mail]
Co-investigator 1
Name: Sarah White
Institution: University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, USA
3\. Date of data collection: 2020\-2022
4\. Geographic location of data collection: Scranton\, PA\, USA
5\. Funding sources that supported the collection of the data: University of Scranton
6\. Recommended citation for this dataset: Wh...