Rhinotropis nitida
shining milkwort
spreading to erect, pubescent, hairs incurved and appressed.
subsessile or petiolate, petiole to 3 mm;
blade ovate, lanceolate, elliptic, or linear, 5–35(–40) × 1–9 mm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acute to rounded or acuminate, surfaces subglabrous or pubescent, hairs incurved.
terminal, usually leaf-opposed, sometimes near stem base, 0.8–5(–6) × 1–2.5 cm;
rachis not thorn-tipped;
peduncle 0–0.5 cm;
bracts persistent, elliptic, ovate, or lanceolate.
1.5–4 mm, pubescent or glabrous.
pink to cream, wings sometimes greenish, (4.4–)5–7.5 mm;
upper sepal persistent, others deciduous, ovate, lower sepals ovate to elliptic or obovate, (1.6–)1.9–4.1 mm, pubescent or glabrous;
wings obovate to elliptic, 3–7 × 1.4–3.2 mm, pubescent or glabrous;
keel 2.7–6.1 mm, sac usually glabrous, rarely sparsely incurved-pubescent distally, beak oblong or bluntly rounded, (0.2–)0.6–1.7 × 0.2–0.8 mm (rarely absent in var. tamaulipana), glabrous or pubescent.
ellipsoid, sometimes broadly so, 3.7–6.2 × 2.4–4.3 mm, base subtruncate to acute, margins with very narrow wing or not winged, pubescent.
2.7–4.9 mm, densely pubescent;
aril 1.3–2.6 mm, lobes to 1/2 length of seed.
Rhinotropis nitida
Varieties 4 (2 in the flora).
Rhinotropis nitida is closely related to R. lindheimeri, with seven varieties recognized between the two. According to T. L. Wendt (1978), although the differences between the two species are fairly small, the recognition of a single species would obscure the differences in the evolution of several superficially similar taxa.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Stems spreading to erect, hairs mostly 0.15–0.3 mm, usually spreading to loosely incurved, tips not close to stem surface; leaf blades elliptic to ovate in proximal 1/3 of stem, length 1.5–3 times width, distal leaves similar or somewhat narrower, not lanceolate or linear; pedicels (2–)2.5–4 mm. | var. goliadensis |
1. Stems erect, hairs mostly 0.07–0.1(–0.15) mm, closely incurved-appressed, very close to stem, tips touching stem surface; leaf blades narrowly elliptic to lanceolate or linear, including basal ones, length at least 5 times width, or when leaves in proximal 1/3 of stem are broader, then distal leaves lanceolate-elliptic, much narrower than proximal ones; pedicels 1.5–3 mm. | var. tamaulipana |
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