Small-flower milkwort

Polygala nudata Brandegee, Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 4: 183. 1911

Subshrubs, multi-stemmed, broomlike, 1.5–4(–5) dm. Stems usually erect to decumbent or procumbent, usually sparsely pubescent, rarely glabrate, hairs incurved. Leaves: larger ones usually early deciduous; sessile or petiolate, petiole to 1 mm; blade linear, lanceolate, narrowly elliptic, obovate, or scalelike, 1–4(–15) × 0.5–1(–3.7) mm, base cuneate, apex acute, surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs incurved. Racemes terminal, often also appearing axillary (from branches proximal to racemes of major branches with vegetative portions highly reduced), 2–10(–15) ×0.8–1.5 cm; rachis not thorn-tipped; peduncle 0–2 cm; bracts persistent, ovate to lanceolate. Pedicels (1.3–)1.6–3.6 mm, usually pubescent, rarely subglabrous. Flowers usually white or cream, often with purplish center stripe, rarely pink, 3–5 mm; upper sepal persistent, others deciduous, ovate to elliptic or obo­vate, 1.4–3(–3.4) mm, pubescent; wings obovate to elliptic, (2.5–)3–4.6 × (1.2–)1.5–3 mm, usually gla­brous, rarely sparsely pubescent; keel (2.2–)2.5–4 mm, sac incurved-puberulent in distal 1/2, beak bluntly rounded to oblong, (0.3–)0.4–1.1 × 0.2–0.5(–0.7) mm, pubescent. Capsules ovoid to broadly ellipsoid, 2.5–4(–4.5) × (2.1–)2.3–3.2(–3.4) mm, base rounded or subtruncate, margins with very narrow and even wing, usually pubescent, sometimes subglabrous proximally. Seeds 2.3–3(–3.4) mm, usually evenly pubescent; aril (0.8–)1–1.6 mm, lobes to 1/2 length of seed. 2n = 18.

Flowering spring–late fall. Mostly on limestone, also on gypsum, sandstone, or tuff, rocky slopes in desert scrub, chaparral, or mixed woodlands (pinyon, juniper, or oak); 1200–1700 m; Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas).

Rhinotropis nudata occurs in Brewster and Presidio counties.

The name Polygala minutifolia Rose was misapplied to this taxon by D. S. Correll and M. C. Johnston (1970).