4() THAl.AMlFLoniE. 



gether, axillary, half the lengtli of the leaf, erect during: the 

 period of flowering, deflected when the fruit begins to form. 

 Flowers white. 



This small plant is common in the mountain districts of 

 Portland. It is very mucilaginous, and the infusion has been 

 used in Brazil for complaints of the eye, in Peru for dysentery, 

 and, in some of the West India islands, for irritability of the 

 bladder. 



ORDER XVIII.— POLYGALEiE. 



Calycine sepals 5, imbricated during aestivation ; 

 the two interior sepals generally petaliform, the three 

 exterior smaller. Petals 3-4, hypogynous, more or 

 less connected with the tube of the stamens, rarely 

 distinct. Filaments united to the petals, monadel- 

 phous, divided at the apex into two opposite phalan- 

 ges : anthers 8, unilocular, inserted at the base, dehis- 

 cent at the apex by means of pores. Ovary 1, free, 

 bilocular, rarely uni- or tri-locular : style 1, incurved : 

 stigma infundibuliform or 2-lobed. Pericarp capsu- 

 lar or drupaceous, bilocular, or by abortion unilocular, 

 the valves giving off the septum from the middle : 

 seeds solitary, pendulous, frequently carunculato-a- 

 rillated at the base, sometimes pilose or comose : em- 

 bryo straight, plane ; in some, central in a fleshy al- 

 bumen ; in others (more rarely) exalbuminose. 



Herbaceous or shrubby plants : leaves in many alternate, ar- 

 ticulated on the stem, entire : flowers racemose. The bark 

 and root are bitter, and the latter yields a milky juice. That 

 of the Krameria triandra, known by the name of ratfani/ or 

 ratanhia root, is employed to adulterate Port wine, and is 

 largely imported into England from Chili and Peru for that 

 purpose. The I'oot of the Polvgala senega, under the name 

 of Virginian snake-root has long been esteemed as a remedy 

 in many diseases. The Yallhoy of Peru (the bark of the 

 MoNNiNA polystachva) is said to be useful in dysentery. The 

 plants belonging to the Milkwort tribe are in general interest- 

 ing from their beauty ; and those, which are natives of this 

 Island, are by no means exceptions. 



