Rhinotropis acanthoclada

Thorny milkwort, Thorny Milkwort

Family: Polygalaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Thorny milkwort is a rare (CNPS 2B.3) California native shrub found in southern Mojave Desert regions including Lucerne Valley and the Eagle and New York Mountains in desert scrub and Joshua-tree woodland at elevations of 945 to 1,830 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces cream-white flowers in small clusters with distinctive thorn-tipped inflorescences. Growing with sprawling to erect stems up to one meter tall, it features densely white-hairy twigs that spread across its form. Its leaves are oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, measuring 5 to 25 millimeters long and covered in soft spreading hairs. The fruits are small, 4 to 6 millimeters long, with seeds bearing delicate hair-like attachments.

Habitat: Desert scrub, Joshua-tree or pinyon/juniper woodland, generally in loose, sandy or gravelly soil

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 945-1830 m

Bioregions: s DMoj (Lucerne Valley), DMtns (Eagle, New York mtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Mono

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.