DIADELrUIA. OCTANDRIA. 8f 



III.— OCTANDRIA. 



489. POLYGALA. i. (Milkwort.) 



Calix 5-Ieavetl; 2 of the leaves in the form of 

 winj^s, and coloured. Capsule obcordate, 2-cell- 

 ed, i2-valved. 



Herbaceous or shrubby; leaves mostly alternate; flowers 

 each producii:,£^ from 1 to 3 bractes, alternate, loosely or 

 densely spiked, and terminal. — (A genus of diversified 

 aspect, and scarcely natural, those of different contments 

 possessing-, however, a common resemblance, with a few 

 exceptions.) Seeds of the American species strophiolate 

 and pubescent, often hirsute; strophiole (or carunculate 

 hilum) bifid, in P. incarnata and P. setacea reflected up* 

 wards.) 



Species. 1-P. incarnata. Glaucous. 2. setacea. Peren- 

 nial. 3. vulgaris. Hab. On the banks of Mohawk river, 

 New York. v. 5. 4. paucifojia, (P. ^inifora? Mich.) From 

 Pennsylvania to the mountains of Corolina. Forming almost 

 exclusive carpets of great extent in the Pine forests (;t' 

 Lake Huron. Is it not possessed of medicinal properties 

 similar to those of P. Senes^a, which it resembles in taste, 

 and in its action on the fauces? 5. Sene^-a. 



6. * alba. Perenni:ih flowers cristate; stem simple; leave? 

 alternate, linear, revolute on the margin; flowers race- 

 mosely spiked; spike long pedunculate, bractes deciduous; 

 wings of the calix rounded, about the length of the corolla. 

 Hae. On the plains of the Missouri, common, and the only 

 species of the genus in the upper part of Louisiana. Obs. A 

 small plant scarcely more than 6 inches high, consider, bly 

 allied to P. Senega, but more than a variety, as it has been 

 considered by Mr. Pursh; leaves smooth and narrow; flow- 

 ers and calls white, nearly sessile; bractes lanceolate. 



7- * pubescens. Muhl. Catal.? Perennial: stem erect, 

 and pubescent, virgately branched; leaves alternate, ovate- 

 lanceolate, ciliate, subsessile; raceme elongated, flowers 

 bearded, distinct, rosaceous. Hab. Around Savannah ia 

 Georgia, &c. One of the largest and finest species indi- 

 genous to the United States, and certainly very distinct 

 from p. Senega. The bractes are minute and deciduous, 

 flowers larger than in any other species included in this 

 Catalogde. 



8. po'yg-ama. Ph. Stem branched from the base; leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, attenuated downwards; racemes filiform, 

 lateral and terminal, flowers sessile; radical racemes pro* 



