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Polygala californica

California milkwort, milkwort

Habit Herbs, sometimes suffrutescent, multi-stemmed, often forming a ground cover, 0.5–3.5 dm. Herbs or subshrubs, multi-stemmed, often loosely mat-forming to 2.5 dm diam., 0.1–0.5 dm.
Stems

laxly erect, decumbent, or prostrate, pubescent to subglabrous, hairs incurved.

prostrate to laxly erect, glabrous or very sparsely pubescent, hairs incurved.

Leaves

sessile or subsessile;

blade ovate, elliptic, or obovate, 7–50(–60) × 3–20(–26) mm, base usually rounded to acute, sometimes cuneate, apex rounded to acute, surfaces pubescent, hairs incurved.

sessile or subsessile;

blade elliptic, obovate, ovate, or scalelike, (1.5–)2–5.9(–8) × 0.8–3.5 mm, base cuneate or rounded, apex acute, surfaces sparsely pubescent to subglabrous, hairs incurved.

Racemes

terminal or leaf-opposed, 1–4(–5) × 1.8–3 cm;

rachis not thorn-tipped;

peduncle 0–1 cm;

bracts early deciduous, linear to lanceolate.

terminal, sometimes appearing axillary (from branches proximal to racemes of major branches with vegetative portions highly reduced), reduced to 1–3(–5) flowers, 0.5–1 × 0.7–1.9 cm;

peduncle 0–0.2 cm;

rachis not thorn-tipped;

bracts persistent, ovate, lanceolate, or linear.

Pedicels

(2.5–)3.5–8.5 mm, sparsely pubescent or glabrous.

(0.6–)1–3(–3.6) mm, usually glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent.

Flowers

usually pink, rarely white, keel distally yellow (fading white), (2.5–)9–14.5 mm, cleistogamous and semi-cleistogamous flowers mostly 2.5–5 mm, intergrading with chasmogamous flowers;

sepals deciduous, elliptic, 4–6.5 mm, pubescent or glabrous;

wings obovate, (7.5–)8–12 × 2.5–6 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent;

keel (7–)8–11 mm, sac glabrous (sometimes proximally ciliate), beak oblong, (1.2–)1.6–3 × 0.7–1 mm (mostly absent in cleistogamous flowers), usually notched or contorted abaxially, rarely subentire, pubescent.

pink or purple with pale margins, keel sometimes cream, distally greenish yellow, (2.4–)2.9–5.1(–5.4) mm;

sepals: lateral ones deciduous, elliptic, ovate, or obovate, (1.2–)1.6–3(–3.2) mm, upper sepal persistent, ovate, (1–)1.2–2.4 mm, glabrous, margins sometimes sparsely ciliate proximally;

wings obovate, (2.2–)2.5–4.6(–5.1) × 1.8–2.8 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent proximally;

keel (1.7–)2.3–3.6 mm, sac incurved-puberulent in distal 1/2, beak obscure, deltate, bluntly rounded, or linear to oblong, (0–)0.1–0.7 × (0–)0.1–0.5 mm, glabrous.

Capsules

ellipsoid to ovoid, 7.3–10.5 × 4.5–7 mm, in cleistogamous and semi-cleistogamous flowers 4.5–8 mm, base obtuse, rounded, or subtruncate, margins with narrow, entire or slightly erose wing, glabrous, margins sometimes ciliolate.

ellipsoid-obovoid, sometimes broadly so, 1.9–3.6 × 1.6–2.9 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins narrowly and evenly winged or slightly expanded apically, glabrous or sparsely pubescent apically.

Seeds

3.5–6 mm, densely pubescent;

aril 1.7–4 mm, less than 1/2 length of seed.

(1.7–)1.9–3.2 mm, body, excluding aril and pubescence, 1–1.9 mm, densely pubescent;

aril (0.3–)0.4–0.7 mm, lobes often highly reduced, nearly absent to 1/6 length of seed.

Cleistogamous

or semi-cleistogamous flowers often present terminally, on much reduced scale-leaved lateral branches from proximal (or distal) leaf axils, or terminally on leafy branches that are often leaf-opposed.

2n

= 18.

Rhinotropis californica

Rhinotropis rimulicola

Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Rocky or clay soils, deep duff, rich soils, serpentine soils, slopes or drainages, full sun to deep shade, open habitat, chaparral, mixed evergreen forests, oak woodlands, coniferous forests.
Elevation 10–1400 m. [30–4600 ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
sw United States; sc United States
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Rhinotropis californica occurs in western California and Oregon.

Cleistogamous and semi-cleistogamous flowers can appear earlier than chasmogamous flowers. Their flowers, fruits, and seeds are similar to those of chasmogamous flowers, but typically are smaller and without the keel beak.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Keel petals with deltate or rounded beaks (often obscure), (0–)0.1–0.3(–0.5) mm, base width equal to or greater than length; seeds (1.7–)1.9–2.7 mm; sepals eciliate or, infrequently, with a few proximal cilia.
var. rimulicola
1. Keel petals with linear to oblong beaks, 0.3–0.7 mm, base width usually less than 2/3 length; seeds 2.8–3.2 mm; sepals sparsely ciliate in proximal 1/2.
var. mescalerorum
Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Polygalaceae > Rhinotropis Polygalaceae > Rhinotropis
Sibling taxa
R. acanthoclada, R. californica, R. cornuta, R. heterorhyncha, R. intermontana, R. lindheimeri, R. maravillasensis, R. nitida, R. nudata, R. rimulicola, R. rusbyi, R. subspinosa
R. acanthoclada, R. californica, R. cornuta, R. heterorhyncha, R. intermontana, R. lindheimeri, R. maravillasensis, R. nitida, R. nudata, R. rusbyi, R. subspinosa
Subordinate taxa
R. rimulicola var. mescalerorum, R. rimulicola var. rimulicola
Synonyms Polygalacalifornica nuttall Polygalarimulicola steyermark
Name authority (Nuttall) J. R. Abbott: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 5: 134. (2011) (Steyermark) J. R. Abbott: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 5: 135. (2011)
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