A rare plant will occasionally escape notice by botanists due to its secluded habitat. This has happened in Colorado with Mimulus eastwoodiae, Eastwood Monkey Flower. Although historically known to be endemic to southeastern Utah and northeastern Arizona, the first Colorado locality of M. eastwoodiae was not discovered until 1975. M. eastwoodiae was first seen and photographed in Escalante Canyon by Paul Maslin and Panayoti Callas, both from Boulder, on August 26, 1975. They did not collect specimens. Since then it has been found and collected by a number of other botanists in a variety of locations. Another locality was discovered this last summer [in 1976]. Both are in secluded canyons in the southwestern quarter of the state. The habitat of M. eastwoodiae is unique: shallow caves at the base of steep canyon walls. The caves consist of a rear wall that arches gradually upward and outward into a massive overhang. They are formed by the seepage of water out of the sandstone canyon wall; the water erodes away the sandstone, continually deepening the cave.

M. eastwoodiae blooms in late summer, during August. By that time the Helleborine Orchid, Star Solomonplume, and Small-flowered Columbine are past bloom.