122 MILKWORT FAMILY 



MILKWORT FAMILY (Polygalaceae) 



Herbaceous plants. Flowers tiny, very irregular. Fruit a cap- 

 sule. 



Milkwort. Thimbles. Polyqala (Genus Poly gala) 



The genus to which these plants belong is one of the 

 most industrious in Florida. November and December 

 show belated flowers, and January begins the season 

 anew. Even in midwinter it is not uncommon to find 

 half a dozen different species blossoming in yellow, orange, 

 purple, and greenish white. 



For such closely related plants the species differ widely 

 in general appearance ; some show a branched inflorescence 

 of many small racemes, others crowd their flowers in soli- 

 tary thimble-like heads, and still others scatter them along 

 slender stems. But, in spite of this diversity, the minute 

 flowers are all formed on the same plan, and it is well to 

 examine one closely in order that plants of this genus 

 may be the more readily identified. Of the five sepals 

 three are minute, the other two are larger, and are petal- 

 like in color, and in some species remain on the plant and 

 increase in size as the seeds ripen. There are but three 

 petals ; these are small and are partly united, so that they 

 appear as a short tube ending in minute lobes, or" a very 

 short fringe. The eight stamens are more or less united 

 to one another and to the petals. The seeds, also, are 

 peculiar: each capsule contains two, and each seed is 

 capped with a bit of white spongy tissue called the car- 

 uncle. This caruncle is of different shape in the dif- 

 ferent species; in some it almost envelops the seed, and 

 in others it merely covers one end. The pistils, also, 

 show a diversity of form. 



Why such closely related plants should have developed 

 these many small differences during the long course of 

 evolution is — to borrow an expression from Darwin — one 



