FRINGED POLYGALA 



low thickets and borders of woods, John Burroughs 

 also writes: "I must not forget to mention that deli- 

 cate and lovely flower of May, the Fringed Polygala. 

 It is rather a shy flower, and is not found in every 

 wood. One day we went up and down through the 

 woods looking for it — woods of mingled oak, chest- 

 nut, pine, and hemlock — and were about giving it up 

 w^hen suddenly we came upon a gay company of them 

 beside an old wood road. It was as if a flock of small 

 rose-purple butterflies had ahghted there on the ground 

 before us. The whole plant has a singularly fresh and 

 tender aspect. Its foliage is of a slightly purple tinge 

 and of very delicate texture. Not the least interesting 

 feature about the plant is the concealed fertile flower 

 which it bears on a subterranean stem." 



Frances M. Abbott, writing of Concord, Massa- 

 chusetts, says: "The flower of this month that seems 

 particularly characteristic is the Fringed Polygala, 

 that glows among the Star-Flowers, Bunchberries, and 

 Claytonias, which carpet nearly all our woods." The 

 common names given to the plant, Gay-Wings, May- 

 Wings, Bird-on-the-Wing, are each and every one a 

 caress as well as recognition of the airy-winged sug- 

 gestion of the blossom. The size, form, and purplish 

 tinge of the leaves resemble young Wintergreen leaves, 

 and for this reason the plant is called Flowering Winter- 

 green. 



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