128 POLYGALACEiE. Polygala. 



very thick, conspicuously squarrose with the projecting cusps of the wings. 

 Flowers green with a tinge of yellow. Style rather slender, somewhat 

 dilated and furnished with a projecting gland in the middle. Seed obovate, 

 hairy. Lobes of the caruncle diverging, nearly as long as the seed. 



§ 2. Spikes ovate, in simple terminal or compound cymes : keel cris- 

 tate (the crest sometimes minute) : styles slender, 2-lobed, not cucullate : 

 filaments united nearly to the summit : appendage of the caruncle very 

 minute or none. Biennial. 



5. P. corymbosa{M.\Q\vx.): cymes compound ; spikes ovate; wings ob- 

 long, cuspidate ; radical leaves spatulate-obovate ; cauline ones linear; stem 

 simple below, angular.— M?'c/( J-. .' /. 2. p. 54; Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 89; DC. 

 prodr. 1. p. 329. P. ramosa, Ell. sk. 2. p. 186. 



Swamps, Sussex county, Delaware, Nuttall, io'Ne-w-Orlea.nsl Texas, Dr. 

 Leavenworth ! — Stem 8-12 inches high, simple, (except when the plant has 

 been injured), bearing a large terminal corymb. Radical leaves an inch long. 

 Spikes rather compact, half an inch in diameter. Flowers citron-yellow, 

 becoming blackish-green in drying. Wings 4 times as long as the capsule. 

 Seed oblong, with a minute roundish caruncle. — Elliott has described the 

 stem as branched from the base, which is never the case, except it has been 

 broken off, when it throws up lateral branches. 



6. P. acntifolia: cyme compound; spikes ovate, rather loose; wings 

 oblong, rather obtuse, mucronate ; exterior sepals ovate-triangular, acute ; crest 

 conspicuous ; seed subglobose, glabrous, without a caruncle ; stem simple, at- 

 tenuated upward ; radical leaves lanceolate-linear, very acute ; cauline ones 

 linear-subulate. 



Borders of pine-barren ponds. Middle Florida, Dr. Chapman ! May-Oct. 

 — Stem 2-3 feet high, simple, somewhat angled above. Radical leaves 2-3 

 inches long, attenuated to a sharp point ; cauline leaves gradually diminish- 

 ing upward to mere subulate bracts. Flowers blackish-green when dry, dis- 

 tinctly pedicellate. Exterior sepals unequal ; the upper one more than half as 

 large as the wings. Crest composed of 4-6 capitate or emarginate processes. 

 Style at first straight, afterwards curved above the middle : gland (stigma ?) 

 sessile. Capsule minute, dilated ; one of the cells usually abortive. Seed 

 black, slightly dotted. — Resembles P. cymosa; but that species has the 

 cyme simple, much smaller exterior sepals, and an inconspicuous crest. 



7. P. cymosa (Walt.): cyme simple; spikes ovate; wings elliptical-ob- 

 long, rather obtuse, mucronulate ; superior sepal half as large as the wings, 

 rather obtuse ; lateral petals distinct nearly to the base; crest minute ; seed 

 subglobose, glabrous, without a caruncle; stem simple, terete, attenuated 

 upward; radical leaves linear-spatulate ; cauline ones linear-subulate, minute. 

 — Walt. Car. p. 179. P. graminifolia. Pair. diet. 5. p. 500 ; DC. prodr. 1. 

 p. 329. P. attenuata, Nutt. gen. 2. p. 90. P. corymbosa, Ell. sk. 2. p. 187. 

 (not of Michx.) 



Ponds and swamps in pine barrens, North Carolina, Nuttall, to South Ca- 

 rolina ! and Florida ! June-Aug.— Stem 2-5 feet high. Radical leaves 2-5 

 inches long ; cauline ones gradually diminishing in size ; the uppermost mere 

 scales. Cyme always simple ; the peduncles short, squarrose with the per- 

 sistent bracts. Flowers yellow, drying blackish-green. Wings as long as 

 the corolla, obtuse, with a minute mucronate tip. Crest formed of 2-3 very 

 short subulate processes. Style curved toward the summit: the gland 

 nearly sessile. 



8. P. Baklwinii (Nutt.) : Cyme compound ; spikes subglobose, compact ; 

 flowers (nearly white) on very short pedicels ; sepals all cuspidate ; the wing 



