POL YGALACE^— MILKWORT FAMILY 



FRINGED POLYGALA. FLOWERING 

 WINTERGREEN 



Pol^gala paucifdlia 



An old name composed of polus, much, and gala, milk, 

 from a fancied property of its increasing this secretion. 



Perennial. A delicate plant with very handsome rose- 

 colored flowers, found in open woods, fields, and meadows 

 of light sandy soils. Maine to Minnesota and south along 

 the AUeghanies. Appears in northern Ohio. May- 

 September. 



Rootstock. — Slender, tortuous. 



Stems. — Three to six inches high; upper part leafy, 

 lower part bearing small ovate, leafy scales; these stems 

 rise from prostrate or subterranean shoots which bear 

 concealed fertile flowers. 



Leaves. — Four to five upon a stem, petioled, alternate, 

 ovate, entire, about an inch long and half an inch wide. 



Flowers. — Showy, rose-purple, irregular, one to three 

 upon each stem. The plant also produces cleistogamous 

 flowers. 



Calyx. — Of five irregular sepals, three exterior and 

 smaller, the two inner ones larger, colored like petals and 

 called wings. 



Corolla. — Of three petals, the middle one keel-shaped and 

 fringe-crested, the two side ones oblong, concave, and 

 united to the keel the greater part of their length. 



Stamens. — Six; filaments more or less united into a 

 tube; anthers two-lipped, opening by a terminal pore. 



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