Rock milkwort
Polygala rupestris
Family · Polygalaceae · Harmless
The small woody plant with white or yellowish flowers emerging from limestone cracks, with a very strangely built flower: two lateral sepals act as petals and the true petal ends in a fringe.
Walls and rocks · Scrubland · Uplands
Also known asrupestral milkwort
How to tell it
A small plant, woody at the base, clinging to rock. Narrow alternate leaves. Small flowers with two lateral wings and a lower lip ending in a divided fringe, which is the family's mark and exists in nothing else. Range: mainly a Spanish plant, practically absent from Portugal.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No relevant use
The genus name comes from an old belief that it increased the milk of livestock that ate it, which was never confirmed.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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