Key to Menodora

View taxon page for Menodora

(For a list of species in Menodora, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Shrub, densely mounded; branches many, 

spreading 

Oriented more or less perpendicularly to the axis of attachment; often, more or less horizontal.

to 

ascending 

Curving or angling upward from base, or about 30-60 degrees less than vertical or away from axis of attachment.

, twigs short, stout, becoming thorny; corolla white, tinged red or purple; fruit ± 

indehiscent 

Not opening inherently to release contents; usually pertaining to fruits.

..... M. spinescens

2. Calyx tube in flower generally > 1.5 mm; corolla tube > 7 mm ..... var. mohavensis

2' Calyx tube in flower generally < 1.5 mm; corolla tube < 5 mm ..... var. spinescens

1' Perennial herb to subshrub, broom-like; branches 0–few, ascending to 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

, slender; corolla yellow; fruit 

circumscissile 

Dehiscence, usually of a fruit (capsule), by a transverse line, the top coming off as a lid.

..... M. scabra

3. Plants generally > 30 cm, ± glabrous; leaves proximal to inflorescence > 5 × width, generally 

linear 

Elongate, with nearly parallel sides; narrower than elliptic or oblong.

or lance-linear; 

internodes 

Segment of an axis (generally a stem) between successive positions (nodes) from which one or more structures (especially leaves, buds, branches, or flowers) arise.

proximal to inflorescence generally > 1.5 × subtending leaves; calyx 

lobes 

1. A major expansion or bulge, such as on the margin of a leaf, sepal, or petal, or on the surface of an ovary. 2. The free tips of otherwise fused structures, such as sepals or petals; larger than teeth.

5–7(10) ..... var. glabrescens

3' Plants generally < 28 cm, ± scabrous, often densely so; leaves proximal to inflorescence < 4 × width, generally narrowly 

lanceolate 

Narrowly elongate, widest in the basal half, often tapered to an acute tip.

or oblanceolate; internodes proximal to inflorescence generally < 1.5 × subtending leaves; calyx lobes (8)9–10(12) ..... var. scabra

Please use this Google Form for Contact/Feedback

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

Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on .

We encourage links to these pages, but the content may not be downloaded for reposting, repackaging, redistributing, or sale in any form, without written permission from The Jepson Herbarium.