Tas. 8065. 
POLYGALA apoperana. 
Lower California. 
PoLYGALACER. 
Poryeata, Linn.; Benth, et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 136; Chodat, 
Monographia Polygalacearum, pars ii. 
Polygala (§ Hebeclada) apopetala, 7. S. Brandegee in Proc. Calif. Acad. 
Sci., ser. 2, vol. ii. p. 130; and in Zoe, vol. i. p. 4; Chodat in Engl. & 
Prantl, Pflanzenfam. vol. iii. pars 4, p. 332; Bailey, Cycl. Amer. Hortic. 
p. 1391; ab affini P. floribunda, Benth., arillo multo minore, ovario 
subsessili recedit. 
Frutex vel arbuscula, 2-15 ped. alta, ramis rectis gracilibus minute appresse 
cinereo-pubescentibus. Folia satis remota, alterna, lanceolata, obtusa, 
minute apiculata, in petiolum 1-2 lin. longum attenuata, 13-3 poll. longa, 
5-14 lin. lata, integra, glabrescentia, venis venulisque inconspicuis. 
Racemi usque ad 8 poll. longi, bracteis subulatis caducissimis, pedicellis 
gracilibus 4—6 lin. longis. Sepala exteriora 3, cymbiformia, 2 lin. longa, 
dense albo-ciliata, quorum 2 antica fere ad apicem in unum connata; 
alze petaloideze, suborbiculares, 6 lin. diametro, minute ciliate. Petala 
postica ligularia, 5 lin. longa, extrorse revoluta, ut lateralia et carina, 
basi cum tubo staminali connata; lateralia ovata, obtusiuscula, vix } lin. 
longa; carina unguiculata, late cymbiformis, ecristata, exappendiculata, 
6 lin. longa. Stamina 8, tubo filamentorum ad margines posticos ciliato, 
partibus liberis glabris; antherze oblonge, ¢ lin. longe. Ovarium 
glabrum, subsessile, basi disco circumdatum, stylo apice recurvo, triente 
superiore postice barbato, stigmate terminali. Capsula elliptica, latior 
quam longa. Semina ovoidea, paullo compressa, pubescentia, arillo 
minuto, vix lobato. 
P. apopetala is the only species of Polygala that is 
known to attain the dimensions of a tree. It was first 
discovered in 1889 at Comundu, Lower California, by Mr. 
T. S. Brandegee, who describes the locality as follows :— 
**Comundu is a settlement nine miles in length, along a 
little brook in a narrow cafion, three to five hundred feet 
high, with its steep slopes crested by a line of perpendicular 
cliffs. It was at the hase of these cliffs that the interesting 
Lopezia clavata and Polygala apopetala were found.” In 
the following year Mr. Brandegee found that P. apopetala 
was “abundant in the Sierra de Laguna, a range of 
mountains near Todos Santos in Lower California, that 
reach an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet. In the cafions at 
the base of the range this handsome species acquires its 
greatest development, and becomes a small tree, having a 
trunk and spreading top, and equalling in height the 
Marcu Ist, 1906. 
