126 POLYGALACE^. Polyqala. 



upper and lateral or inner sepals, often connate with the keel (rarely 

 5, and then the 2 minute additional ones are situated between the 

 wings and the lower sepals) : the keel usually crested or S-lobed. 

 Stamens 6-8, hypogynous : filaments combined into a tube which is 

 split on the upper side and more or less connate with the claws of the 

 petals, free at the summit : anthers innate, usually l-celled,* opening by 

 a terminal pore. Ovary compressed, formed of 2 (anterior and poste- 

 rior) united carpels, 2.celled with the placenta in the axis, sometimes 

 l-celled by the suppression of the upper cell, very rarely l-celled with 

 2 parietal placentae : ovules solitary (or very rarely 2-6) in each car. 

 pel, pendulous : style curved and often cucullate. Fruit loculicidal or 

 indehiscent. Seeds anatropous, with a crustaceous testa : albumen co- 

 pious and fleshy, rarely almost none. Embryo as long as the albu- 

 men, straight or very slightly curved. — Herbaceous (all the N. American 

 species) or shrubby plants ; the roots very bitter and often milky. 

 Leaves exstipulate, entire, generally alternate or sparse, the lower 

 ones not unfrequently verticillate. Flowers usually racemose or 

 spicate : pedicels l-3.bracteate. 



1. POLYGALA. Tourn.; Lam. ill. t. 598; A. St.Hil. ^ Moquin-Tan- 

 don, in mem. mus. 17. p. 313. 



Sepals persistent ; the wings large and petaloid. Petals 3 ; their claws co- 

 herent with the stamineal tube ; the lowest one keel-shaped. Ovary 2-celled : 

 ovules solitary in each cell. Capsule 2-celled, compressed contrary to the 

 very narrow dissepiment, elliptical, obovate or obcordate. Seeds caruncu- 

 iate with copious albumen.— Racemes often spicate or capitate. 



§ 1. S-pikes thick, capitate or oblong, terminating the stem and branches : 

 keel cristate {the crest often minute) : style mostly cucullate and di- 

 lated in the middle : filaments united nearly to the summit : caruncle 

 with a 2-lobed appendage. Annual or biennial. 



1. P. sanguinea (Linn.) : spilces globose-ovate, rather loose ; wings el- 

 liptical-obovate, attenuate at the base, twice as long as the fruit, crest minute ; 

 seed dobose-obovate, hairy, with a very minute caruncle ; leaves Imear ; 

 stem somewhat fastigiately branched.— Mt^. .' geii. 2. p. 88; DC.prodr. 

 1. p. 328. P. viridescens, Poir. diet. 5. p. 502 (fide DC.) j Pursh, fi. 2. 



fry 4:65. 



Dry soils New Jersey (iV?i«a//) to Georgia! Kentucky! and Louisiana ! 

 Aw^ -Sept.—® About a span high. Leaves | of an inch long, acute. 

 Spike an inch long, and about half an inch m diameter, obtuse. Wmgs thin 

 and membranaceous, bright rose-color. Capsules broadly obovate, scarcely 

 covered by the narrow wings. Style much dilated and cucullate in the mid- 

 dle with a filiform bearded process at the summit. Seed black. 



* That the one-celled anthers in this family do not belong to half-stamens, but re- 

 sult from the union of the two cells, is evident from their structure in Polygala pau- 

 cifolia and others of the same section, in which the imperfect septum may be observed. 



