80 POLYGALEE (Harv.) | [Polygala. 
Flowers irregular. Sepals 5, (rarely 4~3), distinct, unequal, strongly 
imbricated, three exterior, two lateral (the al/@ or wings) interior and 
often petaloid. Petals 3 ; one ‘in front (keel or carina) larger, concave, 
enclosing the stamens and ovary and very often crested ; two much 
smaller, toothlike, lateral and adnate to the staminal tube; rarely 5. 
Stamens 8, hypogynous, their filaments united into a split tube (very 
-rarely free) ; anthers erect, fixed, one celled, opening at the summit. 
Ovary free, compressed, bilocular, the valves fore and aft ; ovules soli- 
tary, pendulous, anatropous. Style single, thickened upwards. Fruit 
a dry capsule or a berry ; seeds solitary, with fleshy albumen, and an 
axile embryo ; the radicle next the hilum. : 
Herbs, undershrubs, shrubs or even trees, with scattered (rarely opposite), or fasci- 
cled, simple, entire, exstipulate leaves. Flowers solitary, racemose or spiked, com- 
monly purple or pink, rarely yellow, blue or white ; the pedicels tribracteate at base. 
A considerable Order, comprising between 500 and 600 species, dispersed through- 
out the tropics and the warmer parts of the temperate zone, with a few outliers in 
the colder zones. The flowers are remarkable for great irregularity. The calyx, 
Polygala, is partly coloured, and its two lateral sepals often form the most conspk = 
cuous part of the flower ; the petals are generally confluent into a single, boat-shaped a 
piece, to which the staminal tube is more or less adnate ; the whole blossom is almost 
papilionaceous. The general properties of the Order are bitterness and acridity; 
some are valuable tonics, and others emetics and cathartics. Few are inert. | eae 
Kramerias (Rhatany-roots) are strongly astringent, and their coloured juices used to 
adulterate Port wine. Polygala serpentaria has a Colonial reputation, as @ remedy 
for the bite of snakes. < : < 
. 
TABLE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN GENERA. 
* Sepals very unequal, the two lateral winglike. 
I. Polygala.— Capsvle membranous, oblong or obcordate. 
Ii. Mundtia.—Frwit a juicy drupe. 2 
-  * Sepals nearly equal, of similar form. 
TIT. Muraltia.— Capsule membranous, mostly 4-horned or 4-tubecled. 
I. POLYGALA. Tourn. = 
Sepals 5, the two lateral (ale) much larger than the rest, winglike, 
and coloured. Petals 3-5, united at base and attached to the staminal 
tube ; the lower one keelshaped, usually with a multifid crest below 
_ the apex; lateral petals small, simple or bifid ; posterior frequently 
wanting. Stamens 8, united into a slit tube, and hidden within the an- 
_ terior petal. Style bent upwards ; stigma oblique. Capsule membranous, - 
_ compressed, elliptical, obovate, or obcordate, often notched ; seeds gene-_ 
rally pubescent. DC. Prod. 1. p. 321. : 
Shrubs, undershrubs or herbs, with alternate, pposite, simple, entire leaves, 
andi twowihens, wplked Gr captions, terial or Ineo botiome Podioals tai 
bracteate at base. An immense genus, common in the Northern temperate zone, 
and in the tropics of Asia and America, as well as in S, Africa. Name, roAu, much 
have endeavoured, as fa; 
heads. In 
