634 Polygalaceae Polygala 



Seed finely pubescent; capsule on a pedicel a fourth to a third its 

 length; raceme narrow, dense, the sepals greenish white; plant 

 with widely spreading branches and the racemes on peduncles 

 0.5-4.0 cm long. 



Capsule about 1 mm long; plant usually 1-2 dm tall 



5. P. verticillata var. isocycla. 



Capsule about 1.5 mm long; plant usually 1.5-3 dm tall 



5a. P. verticillata var. sphenostachya. 



Raceme long-cylindric, slender, the fruits more persistent so that the 

 flowers and fruits present are scattered (the lower remote) in a 

 slender raceme 1-5 cm long; "wings" about equaling the mature 

 capsule; seed mostly three times as long as wide, the aril usually 

 less than half its length ; leaves mostly or all alternate or scattered 



on the stem and virgate branches 6. P. ambigua. 



Racemes capitate, ovoid, obtuse, mostly 7-17 mm broad. 



Leaves whorled or the upper scattered 7. P. cruciata. 



Leaves all alternate 8. P. sanguined. 



Petals united into a distinct, cleft tube about 5 mm long; fruit persisting on the 

 spike longer than in P. sanguinea. (See excluded species no. 417, p. 1070.) 

 P. incarnata. 



1. Polygala paucifolia Willd. Fringed Polygala. Map 1308. The only 

 specimens I have seen grew on the north slope of a black oak dune near 

 Lake Michigan in Porter County. This colony was discovered by Marcus 

 W. Lyon, Jr., who was the first to report it for Indiana. Pepoon later 

 reported it for Lake and Porter Counties for Hill and Umbach but I have 

 not seen these specimens. W. F. Durno, 180 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, 

 111., wrote me that on May 1, 1938, he saw the colony and estimated that 

 there were 100 plants in bloom on that date. From his description of 

 the location of the colony, I think it is the same colony that Dr. Lyon 

 found in 1927. Durno also writes that there is a small colony of the white- 

 flowered form a short distance to the southwest^ of this colony. In 1929 

 I collected a single plant for a record and at that time there were not more 

 than 20 plants in the colony. 



E. Que. to Man., southw. to Ga., 111., and Minn. 



2. Polygala polygama Walt. Map 1309. Plants of this species vary 

 greatly, from erect, from a decumbent or ascending base with only terminal 

 spikes, or sometimes with a few lateral branches of cleistogamous flowers, 

 to widely spreading with terminal spikes and many lateral branches with 

 cleistogamous flowers. The latter extreme form we have from Lagrange 

 County; it is variety ramulosa Farwell (Amer. Midland Nat. 11 : 63. 1928). 



In dry or moist sandy places in black or black and white oak woods, 

 sandy knolls, and in moist interdunal flats. Our specimens are mostly from 

 northwest of the Wabash River. 



N. S. to Man., and southw., chiefly in the coastal region to Fla. and e. 

 Tex. 



3. Polygala Senega L. Seneca Snakeroot. Map 1310. This plant 

 varies greatly in size and in the width of the leaves. Plants with most 

 of the upper blades more than 7 mm wide are referred to variety latifolia 

 T. & G. Most of our plants belong to the wideleaf form. However, I am 



