Polygala senega is a species of flowering plant in the milkwort family, Polygalaceae. It is native to North America, where it is distributed in southern Canada and the central and eastern United States.Polygala senega. NatureServe. 2012. Its common names include Seneca snakeroot, senega snakeroot, senegaroot, rattlesnake root, and mountain flax.Small, E. and P. M. Catling. Polygala senega L. (Seneca Snakeroot). Canadian Medicinal Crops. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. 2012. Its species name honors the Seneca people, a Native American group who used the plant to treat snakebite.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Polygala senega across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Polygala senega has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens9
Marker genes5
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections7
Countries1
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK★rbcL3★rbcLa★ITS7★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPolygala senega carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosomes2n = 34 n = 17
Ploidydiploid inferred
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
2n 341×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Love, A. & D. Love. 1982. In: A Löve (ed.), IOPB chromosome number reports LXXV. Taxon 31(2): 344–360.
Ploidy records — measured levels and diploid/polyploid inferences · click for sources
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin17.9 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
How it livedPBDB
Dietphotoautotroph
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type956 records
Wild obs. + sensor3
Museum / vouchered953
Origin
Native2
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO2 884 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤100 m 2
2 georeferenced · 1 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor3
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy32% within 1 km
≤100 m 30≤1 km 170≤10 km 357>10 km 61
618 georeferenced · 335 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence953
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions56 of 85 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
St. Paul, US
163
Madison, US
93
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
58
Bloomington, US
58
Ann Arbor, US
52
Burlington, US
43
Université Lavallocation not on record
35
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
32
Wuzhou, CN
28
Chapel Hill, US
26
WINlocation not on record
26
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
20
University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record
20
Montréal, CA
19
Philadelphia, US
17
Saint Louis, US
17
Spearfish, US
15
Québec, CA
14
New Haven, US
12
Toronto, CA
12
Saint John, CA
11
Green Bay, US
11
Bangkok, TH
10
US
8
Davenport, US
8
Knoxville, US
8
University of New Hampshirelocation not on record
7
Chicago, US
7
Paris, FR
7
Museum of the Rockieslocation not on record
6
Acadia Universitylocation not on record
5
USFS/BHSClocation not on record
5
Fayetteville, US
5
Williamsburg, US
4
Northridge, US
4
Springfield, US
3
Emporia, US
3
Whitewater, US
3
Vancouver, CA
3
Mexico City, MX
3
Logan, US
2
Pittsburg, US
2
ASUlocation not on record
2
Fairfax, US
2
LPMMBHlocation not on record
2
Tuscaloosa, US
2
UnBlocation not on record
2
College Park, US
2
Washington, US
2
Kew, GB
1
Russellville, US
1
Oswego, US
1
Chicago, US
1
Durham, US
1
Beijing, CN
1
Bruce Peninsula National Parklocation not on record
1
Research Collection of B. A. Bennettlocation not on record
1
Millersville, US
1
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
1
UMKClocation not on record
1
Norfolk, US
1
Moscow State Universitylocation not on record
1
Science Museum of Minnesotalocation not on record
1
Chadron, US
1
GAlocation not on record
1
Whitehorse, CA
1
Royal Botanical Gardenslocation not on record
1
Elikins, US
1
Istituto Agrario Castelnuovolocation not on record
1
Jurica-Suchy Nature Museumlocation not on record
1
Oskarshamn, SE
1
Macomb, US
1
BAYLUlocation not on record
1
Chicago, US
1
Honolulu, US
1
McWane Science Centerlocation not on record
1
Fort Worth, US
1
University of Guelph, OAC Herbariumlocation not on record
1
BClocation not on record
1
DOI/NPS, Greenbelt Parklocation not on record
1
Bronx, US
1
LINUlocation not on record
1
Austin, US
1
GB
1
Fullerton, US
1
85 institutions · 935 of 953 vouchered records shown · 17 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA7 detections
Where the DNA of Polygala senega was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found7
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 7 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median14.0 °C 1.10–17.1
Seasonal swing summer↔winter32.7 °C
Max temp (day)16.3 °C 3.80–22.1
Min temp (night)12.3 °C -1.00–13.1
Precipitation79.0 mm/mo 57.1–103
Air humidity61.0 % 57.3–64.5
Moisture balance-39.1 mm/mo -74.1–-9.60
Vapour deficit625 Pa 363–843
Wind speed5.60 m/s 4.00–5.80
Cloud cover47.6 % 41.8–55.7
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 4 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility956 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI7 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics9 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
dukesphytochemcompounds
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗