Flora of North America species comparison

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Rhinanthus

rattle-box, rattle-pod, yellow rattle
Habit Herbs, annual; hemiparasitic.
Stems

erect, not fleshy, glabrous, hairy on 2 opposite sides.
Leaves

cauline, opposite;

petiole present or absent;

blade not fleshy to +/- fleshy, not leathery, margins coarsely toothed distally.
Inflorescences

terminal, racemes, +/- secund;

bracts present.
Pedicels

present;

bracteoles absent.
Flowers

sepals 4, calyx bilaterally symmetric, flattened laterally, ovate to suborbiculate, accrescent in fruit, lobes deltate;

petals 5, corolla yellow or yellowish [bronze to bluish], compressed, strongly bilabiate, narrowly campanulate, abaxial lobes 3, adaxial 2, adaxial lip galeate, ovate, obtuse, entire, with subapical tooth on each side;

stamens 4, didynamous, filaments lanate;

staminode 0;

ovary 2-locular, placentation axile;

stigma capitate.
Capsules

dehiscence loculicidal longitudinally.
Seeds

2–10[+], brown, kidney-shaped, flattened, wings present, absent in some R. major.
x

= 11.

Rhinanthus
Distribution
from USDA
North America; Europe; n Asia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 50 (2 in the flora).

Although the taxonomy of Rhinanthus in the Old World is complex, the taxa found in North America are reasonably distinct. The subapical teeth on the adaxial corolla lip have been described as galea or nipples; the term teeth is used in this account. Leaf measurements are for mid-stem leaves; calyx features are for post-anthesis calyces.

The European species Rhinanthus serotinus (Schönheit ex Halácsy & H. Braun) Oborný has been reported from Maine (E. Hultén and M. Fries 1986); the authors have found no specimens to substantiate this report. If it were to be encountered in North America, it would key to R. major, from which it can be distinguished by having narrowly triangular bracts and glabrous calyces as in R. minor.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Corollas 15–20 mm; teeth of galea of corolla 1.5–2.5 mm; calyces villous, glabrescent.
R. major
1. Corollas 13–15 mm; teeth of galea of corolla (0.4–)0.6–1 mm; calyces glabrous, scabrid, or puberulent.
R. minor
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 504. Authors: Gordon C. Tucker, Bradley M. Daugherty.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae
Subordinate taxa
R. major, R. minor
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 603. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 263. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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