Rhinotropis californica |
Rhinotropis cornuta |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
California milkwort |
Sierra milkwort |
|||||
Habit | Herbs, sometimes suffrutescent, multi-stemmed, often forming a ground cover, 0.5–3.5 dm. | Herbs, shrubs, or subshrubs, single- or multi-stemmed, rhizomatous, sometimes spreading to form ground cover or thicket, 1–25 dm. | ||||
Stems | laxly erect, decumbent, or prostrate, pubescent to subglabrous, hairs incurved. |
erect to sprawling or decumbent, sometimes glaucous, glabrous or 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. |
petiolate, petiole 0.5–5 mm; blade linear to ovate, 10–50(–65) × (3–)4–11(–16) mm, base cuneate to rounded, apex acuminate to rounded, surfaces glabrous or pubescent at least along basal midvein abaxially, 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, 1–8(–22) × 1.5–3 cm; rachis not thorn-tipped; peduncle 0.2–0.6 cm; bracts deciduous to subpersistent, lanceolate to ovate. |
||||
Pedicels | (2.5–)3.5–8.5 mm, sparsely pubescent or glabrous. |
2.5–11 mm, pubescent or glabrous. |
||||
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. |
cream, greenish, or pink, keel distally rose, fading green, 7–14 mm; sepals deciduous, ovate, elliptic, or suborbiculate, 1.8–4.5(–5.2) mm, pubescent; wings obovate to elliptic, (6–)6.3–11(–12) × (3–)3.5–5.6(–6) mm, usually pubescent, rarely glabrous, margins ciliate; keel 7.5–10.2 mm, sac glabrous or sparsely pubescent, beak linear, entire, 0.5–2.5 × 0.2 mm, pubescent. |
||||
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. |
ovoid to subglobose, 5.9–10.2 × 6–9.6 mm, base rounded to truncate or subcordate, margins with narrow, entire or slightly erose wing, glabrous, margins sometimes ciliolate. |
||||
Seeds | 3.5–6 mm, densely pubescent; aril 1.7–4 mm, less than 1/2 length of seed. |
4.5–7.3 mm, pubescent; aril 2–5.2 mm, lobes 1/4–1/2 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 cornuta |
|||||
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. (0–4600 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; OR |
nw Mexico; California |
||||
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 |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Polygalacalifornica nuttall | Polygalacornuta kellogg | ||||
Name authority | (Nuttall) J. R. Abbott: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 5: 134. (2011) | (Kellogg) J. R. Abbott: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 5: 134. (2011) | ||||
Web links |
|