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Vascular Plants of California
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Menodora spinescens


Higher Taxonomy
Family: OleaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: OLIVE FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb to tree [vine], hairs 0 or peltate or not; rarely dioecious. Leaf: simple to odd-pinnately compound, alternate or generally opposite, deciduous or evergreen; stipules 0. Inflorescence: various; flowers >= 1. Flower: generally bisexual, generally radial; calyx generally minute (0), tube cup-shaped, teeth or lobes 4--15; petals (0)4--6(8), generally fused; nectar disk often present; stamens (0)2(4--5), epipetalous; pistil 1, ovary superior, chambers 2, each 2--4 ovuled, placenta axile, style 1, stigma generally 2-lobed. Fruit: drupe, capsule, or winged achene. Seed: 1 per chamber.
Genera In Family: +- 25 genera, 900 species: +- worldwide; some cultivated for ornament (Forsythia; Jasminum, jasmine; Ligustrum, privet; Syringa, lilac) or food (Olea, olive).
eFlora Treatment Author: Family description, key to genera by Thomas J. Rosatti; treatment of genera by James Henrickson, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin.
Genus: MenodoraView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Habit: Perennial herb to shrub. Leaf: simple, opposite or alternate, sessile or short-petioled, entire to lobed, prominently 1-veined below. Inflorescence: axillary cluster or terminal compound cyme. Flower: bisexual; calyx persistent, lobes (4)5--10(12), +- linear; corolla +- rotate or funnel-shaped, lobes (4)5(8); style slender, stigma head-like, +- 2-lobed. Fruit: papery capsule, deeply 2-lobed to near base. Seed: 2--4[8].
Etymology: (Greek: gift of force, for sustenance provided to horses of Humboldt and Bonpland in Mexico)
eFlora Treatment Author: Timothy Chumley
Reference: Chumley 2007 Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ Texas, Austin
Unabridged Reference: Turner 1991 Phytologia 712:340--356; Steyermark 1932 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 19:87--176
Menodora spinescens A. Gray
NATIVE
Habit: Shrub, dense, mounded, 2--5(6) dm. Stem: many from generally short, stout trunk, spreading to ascending, round in ×-section, densely puberulent, terminating in thorns, these often appearing forked at ends of major branches. Leaf: alternate (leaf-like bracts appearing clustered on short flower shoots), sessile, (2)4--10(16) mm, linear-oblanceolate to oblanceolate, 3-cleft to middle, densely puberulent, generally only present at flower. Inflorescence: axillary, compact cluster. Flower: calyx puberulent, lobes (4)5--6(8), (1.8)2--4(5) mm, linear; corolla white tinged red or purple, red in bud, lobes 4--5(6), obovate. Fruit: each lobe +- indehiscent, opening irregularly, (5)6.3--7.9(9) mm, +- glabrous to slightly scabrous. Seed: generally 2; (5)5.7--7.2(8) mm, elliptic to obovate in outline, planoconvex to lenticular in ×-section, seed coat appearing smooth, shiny.

Jepson eFlora Author: Timothy Chumley
Reference: Chumley 2007 Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ Texas, Austin
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Menodora scabra var. scabra
Next taxon: Menodora spinescens var. mohavensis

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Citation for this treatment: Timothy Chumley 2012, Menodora spinescens, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=33190, accessed on April 16, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 16, 2024.

Menodora spinescens
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©2004 James M. Andre
Menodora spinescens
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©2008 Steve Matson
Menodora spinescens  
var. mohavensis
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©2012 James M. Andre
Menodora spinescens  
var. spinescens
click for enlargement
©2015 Steve Matson
Menodora spinescens  
var. spinescens
click for enlargement
©2017 Steve Matson

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Geographic subdivisions for Menodora spinescens:
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map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).