 Specimens of the plant had been catalogued as "Mimulus breviflorus", but on further examination it was evident that they were a separate, unclassified species; this was described to science in 1995.It is thought that the plant may have evolved via hybridization between "M. breviflorus" and "M. latidens", or that "M. evanescens" evolved from "M. latidens" and then into "M.