Thought to derive either from the Latin mimus — actor, because the corolla markings resemble a face, or from mimo — ape referring to the ape-like gaping mouth.
Annual and perennial herbs and shrubs. Leaves opposite, entire or toothed. Flowers axillary or in spikelike clusters. Sepals 5, fused. Corolla 2-lipped, sometimes closed by a protuberance. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs. Capsule cylindrical.
Grown either as herbaceous perennials or, more often, as bedding annuals and pot plants.
Herbaceous species by division and softwood cuttings, woody species by semi-hardwood cuttings.
Mostly bedding plants with 2-lipped flowers and 4 stamens in 2 pairs.
About 150 species from the Americas and Asia.
Grant (1924).
Source: (2002). Scrophulariaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.