582 FLORA. 



Family 6. SIMARUBACEAE DC. 

 Ailanthus Family. 



Trees or shrubs, with bitter bark, and mainly alternate and pinnate, 

 not punctate leaves. Stipules minute or none. Inflorescence axillary, 

 paniculate or racemose. Flowers regular, dioecious or polygamous. Calyx 

 3- 5-lobed or divided. Petals 3-5. Disk annular or elongated, entire or 

 lobed. Stamens of the same number as the petals, or twice as many; 

 anthers 2-celled. Ovaries 2-5, or single and 2-5-lobed, j-5-celled ; styles 

 1-5. Seeds generally solitary in the cavities. About 27 genera and 145 

 species, natives of warm or tropical regions. 



i. AILANTHUS Desf. 



Large trees, with odd-pinnate leaves, and terminal panicles of greenish white 

 flowers. Calyx short, 5-cleft, the lobes imbricated; petals 5, spreading, valvate; 

 disk lo-lobed; staminate flowers with 10 stamens inserted at the base of the disk; 

 pistillate flowers with a deeply 2-5 -cleft ovary, its lobes flat, cuneate, I -celled, and 

 2-3 stamens; ovules solitary in each cavity; samaras 2-5. linear or oblong, mem- 

 branous, veiny. I -seeded at the middle; seed compressed; cotyledons nearly orbic- 

 ular. [From the Chinese name.] Three species, natives of China and the E. I. 



i. Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. TREE-OF-HEAVEN. AILANTHUS. (I. F. f. 

 2272.) A tree, 12-27 m. high. Leaves 3-9 dm. long, glabrous; leaflets 13-41, 

 stalked, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, cordate or truncate and often oblique at the base; 

 flowers greenish, about 6 mm. broad, pedicelled, the staminate ones ill-scented; 

 samaras twisted, nearly 5 cm. long. Escaped from cultivation, along roadsides 

 and in fields, spreading extensively by suckers, and seeding freely in some locali- 

 ties, S. Ont. to Mass., Va. and Kans. Nat. from China. June-July. 



Family 7. POLYGALACEAE Reichenb. 

 Milkivort Family. 



Herbs, rarely shrubs or small trees in tropical regions. Stipules none. 

 Pedicels generally 2-bracted at the base. Flowers perfect, irregular. 

 Sepals 5, the two lateral ones (wings) large, colored, the others smaller. 

 Petals 3 (or 5), hypogynous, more or less united into a tube, the lower 

 one often crested. Stamens generally 8, united in i or 2 sets. Ovary 

 2-celled; style simple ; stigma curved, dilated or lobed ; ovules i in each 

 cavity, anatropous. Fruit mainly capsular. Seeds generally caruncled ; 

 embryo straight. About 10 genera and 750 species, widely distributed. 



i. POLYGALA L. 



Herbs or shrubs. Flowers racemose, spicate or capitate, rarely solitary and 

 axillary, sometimes also cleistogamous and subterranean. Sepals very unequal, 

 the two lateral ones large and petaloid. Petals 3. united into a tube which is split 

 on the back, and more or less adnate to the stamens. Stamens 8 or 6. monadel- 

 phous below, ordiadelphous; capsule membranous, compressed, dehiscent along the 

 margin. Seeds i in each cavity, generally hairy. [Greek, much milk.] A genus 

 of about 260 species, of wide distribution. Besides the following, about 36 others 

 occur in southern and western N. Am. 



* Flowers in corymbed spike-like racemes at the summit of the stem, yellow. 

 Basal leaves long, narrow, acuminate. i. P. cymosa. 



Basal leaves spatulate or obovate. 2. P. ramosa. 



* * Flowers in solitary spikes or spike-like racemes, terminating the stem and branches. 

 Basal leaves spatulate or obovate; flowers orange-yellow. 3. p, lutea. 



Basal leaves inconspicuous or wanting; flowers not yellow. 



Leaves, at least the lower, verticillate; spikes 8-18 mm. thick, blunt; flowers purple 

 to greenish white. 



Spikes sessile, or nearly so; wings deltoid. 4. P. cruciata. 



Spikes peduncled ; wings lanceolate-ovate. 5. P. brevifolia. 



