Jepson eFlora: Taxon page
Vascular Plants of California
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Rhinotropis subspinosa

SPINY MILKWORT

Higher Taxonomy
Family: PolygalaceaeView Description 
Common Name: MILKWORT FAMILY
Habit: [Annual] perennial herb, subshrub, shrub [tree, vine]; hairs unbranched. Leaf: simple, generally alternate (opposite or whorled); veins pinnate; margin generally +- entire; stipules generally 0. Inflorescence: raceme, spike, or panicle. Flower: bisexual, generally bilateral and +- pea-flower-like [or +- radial]; sepals 5, fused or not, lateral or inner pair generally larger and petal-like (called wings); petals 5[3], fused to stamen tube, [+- similar or] different with 1 lower keel petal, 2 strap-like upper petals, and 2[0] lateral petals; stamens 3--10, +- fused, tube open at top; ovary chambers 1--8 with 1 ovule each, style 1 or 0. Fruit: capsule [drupe or nut; occasionally winged]. Seed: often with aril.
Genera In Family: 29 genera, 1000 species: especially tropics, subtropics, few cultivated.
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Thomas L. Wendt
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin.
Genus: RhinotropisView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Common Name: MILKWORT
Habit: Root odor generally wintergreen. Inflorescence: raceme, occasionally grouped and panicle-like; cleistogamous flowers occasionally solitary. Flower: bilateral; lateral 2 sepals enlarged; petals 3 or 5, keel petal generally with cylindric beak; stamens 6--8, anthers dehiscent at tip, appearing 1-chambered; with nectary disk or gland; ovary chambers 2, stigma 2-lobed. Fruit: capsule. Seed: fusiform or ovoid, black, generally hairy, generally with prominent white aril on 1 end.
Etymology: (Greek: snout keel, for beaked keel petal) Note: Polygala as treated broadly in TJM2 is not monophyletic; all CA milkworts now in Rhinotropis (Abbott 2011).
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Thomas L. Wendt
Reference: Wendt 1979 J Arnold Arbor 60:504--514; Abbott 2011 JBRIT 5:125--137
Rhinotropis subspinosa (S. Watson) J.R. Abbott
NATIVE
Habit: Perennial herb, shrub. Stem: generally < 2.5 dm, glabrous to short-stiff-hairy, occasionally glaucous. Leaf: 4--31 mm, obovate or elliptic, +- glabrous or with short, stiff hairs; base acuminate. Inflorescence: generally weakly thorn-tipped. Flower: 6--13 mm; sepal wings pink; keel petal beak 1--3 mm, entire or +- jagged, yellow or +- green. Fruit: 5.5--10 mm including stalk. Seed: 3.3--4.9 mm including hairs; seed body elliptic in ×-section, generally evenly hairy throughout; aril glabrous. Chromosomes: 2n=18,36.
Ecology: Desert scrub, volcanic mesas; Elevation: 1350--2285 m. Bioregional Distribution: MP (Lassen Co.), SNE (Sweetwater Mtns); Distribution Outside California: to Utah, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, northern Arizona. Flowering Time: Jun--Jul
Synonyms: Polygala subspinosa S. Watson
Jepson eFlora Author: Robert E. Preston & Thomas L. Wendt
Reference: Wendt 1979 J Arnold Arbor 60:504--514; Abbott 2011 JBRIT 5:125--137
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Listed on CNPS Rare Plant Inventory

Previous taxon: Rhinotropis intermontana
Next taxon: Polygonaceae

Botanical illustration including Rhinotropis subspinosabotanical illustration including Rhinotropis subspinosa


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Citation for this treatment: Robert E. Preston & Thomas L. Wendt 2022, Rhinotropis subspinosa, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 11, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=107539, accessed on October 07, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on October 07, 2024.

No expert verified images found for Rhinotropis subspinosa.



Geographic subdivisions for Rhinotropis subspinosa:
MP (Lassen Co.), SNE (Sweetwater Mtns) 		MAP CONTROLS
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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 occurrence).






 

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 Flowering-Fruiting Monthly Counts

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).