long or less; bracts subulate-attenuate from an ovate base, ciliolate, spreading, 

 persistent, 1.5-2.5 mm. long; pedicels 2-2.4 mm. long; flowers rosy-purple to 

 greenish or rarely white; sepals ovate, obtuse to acutish, ciliolate, 0.8-1.4 mm. 

 long; wings broadly deltoid-ovate, 3.5-5.6 mm. long, 2.7-3.6 mm. wide near base, 

 subsessile or very shortly clawed at the truncate or slightly oblique base, acuminate 

 and strongly cuspidate at apex, about 9-nerved; keel 2.8-3.5 mm. long, the crest 

 on each side of a lamella and 2 or 3 entire or bifid lobes; capsule suborbicular, 

 very plump, strongly oblique and winged below on the stipelike base, 2-2.2 mm. 

 long, 1.8-2.1 mm. wide; seed ellipsoid, plump, short-pubescent, 1.1-1.3 mm. long; 

 aril 0.9-1.1 mm. long, the 2 linear lobes appressed. 



In and on edge of bogs, on seepage slopes and in savannahs in e. Tex., May- 

 Sept.; from Fla. to e. Tex., n. along the coast to Va. and inland to Ky. 



9. Polygala nana (Michx.) DC. Fig. 508. 



Stems several from an annual or biennial rootstock, simple, erect to ascending, 

 7-17.5 cm. tall; basal leaves tufted, spatulate to obovate or elliptic-obovate, 

 15-43 mm. long, 3-17.5 mm. wide, rounded and sometimes mucronulate at apex, 

 narrowed at base, thickish, 3- to 5-nerved; stem leaves few, alternate, linear- 

 spatulate to oblanceolate or obovate, 1.3-4 cm. long, 1.5-8 mm. wide, rounded to 

 acuminate and mucronulate at apex; peduncles solitary, 23-75 mm. long; racemes 

 conic-capitate, becoming ovoid-ellipsoid or thick-cylindric, acute to very obtuse, 

 1-1.7 cm. thick, 1-3.7 cm. long; bracts linear-subulate, ciliolate, at length 

 deciduous or sometimes persistent, 5.5-6.5 mm. long; flowers subsessile, yellow 

 turning deep- or bright-green in drying; sepals elliptic-lanceolate to linear-subulate, 

 3-5.3 mm. long, cuspidate-acuminate, ciliate; wings elliptic, 6.5-7.5 mm. long, 

 1.8-2.8 mm. wide, acuminate and somewhat involute at apex into a cusp to 1 mm. 

 long, scarcely narrowed at base, sparsely ciliolate, 3- to 5-nerved; keel 4.5-5.8 

 mm. long, the crest on each side of 3 linear entire to 3-parted lobes; anthers 6; 

 capsule oval to suborbicular-oval, 1.6-2 mm. long, 1.2-1.6 mm. wide; seed 

 ellipsoid to subpyriform, pilose, with a prominent thick blunt rostrum at base, 

 0.8-1.8 mm. long; aril 0.7-1.1 mm. long, the 2 linear scarious lobes appressed, 

 one third to nearly as long as seed. Pilostaxis nana (Michx.) Raf. 



On seepage slopes, in wet savannahs and low open pinelands in s.e. Tex., 

 Apr.-June; from Fla. to S.C. and Tex. 



Plants of this species are sometimes confused with the more eastern P. lutea L. 

 The cusp of the largest sepals of that species, however, is less than 1 mm. long 

 and the sepals are orange-color instead of yellow. 



10. Polygala ramosa Ell. Fig. 506. 



Erect glabrous annual, 1.5-4 dm. tall, fibrous-rooted; stems solitary, simple 

 or branched; basal leaves in a small tuft, elliptic to obovate, 7-20 mm. long, 2-6 

 mm. wide, rounded at apex, usually narrowed into a petiolelike base; stem leaves 

 linear to spatulate or elliptic, 7-24 mm. long, 1.5-8 mm. wide, acute to obtuse 

 at each end; branch leaves linear, reduced; racemes numerous, terminal and on 

 axillary branches forming a flattish cymose panicle to 14 cm. broad, the separate 

 racemes loosely flowered and 7-11 mm. thick and 18 mm. long or less; bracts 

 lance-ovate, ciliolate, spreading, persistent, 1.5 mm. long; pedicels narrowly 

 winged, 1.3-2.3 mm. long; flowers yellow, turning very dark-green in drying; 

 sepals ovate, ciliolate, acuminate, 1.1-2 mm. long; wings obovate to elliptic- 

 obovate, strongly cuspidate at the somewhat involute apex, 2.9-3.5 mm. long, 

 1.1-1.3 mm. wide, 3-nerved; keel 2.1 mm. long, the crest on each side of a 

 lobed lamella and a 2- or 3-parted lobe; capsule suborbicular, plump, 0.8 mm. 

 long and wide; seed ellipsoid, very plump, short-hairy, 0.6-0.7 mm. long; aril 

 0.2 mm. long, the 2 lobes oval, appressed. Pilostaxis ramosa (Ell.) Small. 



1081 



