AN 
ENCYCLOPAEDIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 183 
Polycycnis—continued. 
P. lepida (neat). fl., sepals and petals light brown, slightly 
tipped with yellow at the apex; lip light yellow, spotted with 
chocolate-brown, and white towards the apex ; raceme drooping, 
from fifteen to twenty-flowered. Psendo-bulbs about 2in. igh, 
tapering, dark green, Columbia, 1870. A very pretty species. 
(1. H. ser. iii, 19.) 
P. muscifera (fly-bearing). This is the correct name of plant 
described in this work as Cyenoches musciferum. 
P. vittata (striped). M. yellow, streaked with so much deep 
chocolate that the former colour is scarcely discernible on the 
lip, — in an erect raceme. h. lft. British Guiana, 1841. 
(B. 1841, 69, under name of Houwlletia vittata.) 
— —— COMPLANATUS. See Milli- 
pedes and Myriapoda. 
POLYGALA (the old Greek name used by Dios- 
corides, from polys, much, and gala, milk; in reference to 
its reputed quality of promoting the secretion of milk). 
Milkseed; Milkwort. Including Chamebueus, Isolophus, 
and Senega. ORD. Polygalew. An extensive genus (200 
species have been described) of greenhouse or hardy, 
annual or perennial herbs, shrubs, or sub- shrubs, distri- 
buted over the temperate and warmer regions of the 
globe. Flowers sometimes , small, variable in 
colour; spikes or racemes terminal or lateral, rarely 
axillary, sometimes in contracted heads, rarely panicu- 
late. Leaves alternate, or rarely opposite or verticil- 
late. Only a comparative few of the species are now 
in cultivation. The hardy sorts are desirable subjects 
for borders and rockwork. The greenhouse species are 
fine and very distinct plants amongst the hard-wooded 
section. They are more easily grown than most others, 
and flower profusely each spring. Fibrous peat, with 
some silver sand intermixed, forms a suitable compost 
for Polygalas, which should be potted firm. Propagated, 
in spring, by cuttings of the young shoots, taken when 
about 3in. long, inserted in sandy peat, under a bell 
glass, placed in an intermediate temperature, and kept 
shaded. x 
P. Chamæbuxus (dwarf Box). Bastard Box. jl. cream-coloured 
or yellow, tipped with purple, fragrant ; racemes axillary, few- 
flowered. ly summer. l oblong-lanceolate, mucronate. 
Stem shrubby, branched, procumbent. A. 6in. Mountain woods 
in many parts of Europe, 1658. A very pretty, neat-habited, 
hardy sub-shrub. (B. M. 316.) P. C. purpurea is a handsome 
variety, dark brown, with purplish leaves. (Gn., Jan., 1878.) 
P. Hilairiana (St. Hilaire’s). fl. the largest of the genus; three 
outer sepals small, ovate ; two inner ones corolloid, white, "tinged 
with green and black ; inner petals mostly combined into a tube, 
white; lateral ones sub-acute, rose-coloured at the apex ; racemes 
six to ten-flowered. Spring. l. 4in. taa 5in. long, oblong-ovate, 
sub-acute. Stem unbranched, erect, lft. high. Bahia, Green- 
house edari — M. 5-67.) i i. 
olia grandifiora (Myrtle-leaved, large- owered). 
ji. aa — purple ; wings —— broadly obovate ; keel large, 
veiny : pedicels shorter than the flowers. April and "May. l on 
very Perg petioles, oblong or oblong-obovate, somewhat mucro- 
nate, h. 4ft. to 6ft. South — A much-branched, green- 
house shrub. (B. M. 3516.) Dalmaisiana of gardens, a 
paiar greenhouse plant, is either a a form of P. myrtifolia, or a 
rid between it and P. oppositifol 
P. —— (opposite-leaved).* — with a yellowish- 
n keel, in terminal, sub. 
cordate, ovate, acute. hz aft. to aft. Cape of Good Hope, 1790. 
Greenhouse shrub. (B. R. 636.) 
P. —— cordata (heart-shape-leaved). l broadly cordate, acute or 
h. 3ft. Cape of Good Hope, 1791. 
— — (broad-leaved). l. broadly ovate, cuspidate- 
inne (B. R. 645.) 
P. ; virgata (twiggy). A purple or —— — 
— — 
Pin ioute raceme MAY wet with — pedi | 
— 
Polygala—continued. 
mucronate, upper ones linear, and, as well as twiggy 
branches, glabrous. A. 6ft. ake of Good Hope, isa, ao: oe 
greenhouse shrub. * M. 1780.) 
P, vulgaris (c C Milkwort ; Procession Flower ; 
Rogation Flower. fl. gener in colour, blue, lilac, purple, pink, 
or white, about żin. long, in terminal racemes. June. l. small, 
oblong. or lanceolate, glabrous Stems prostrate or —— 
numerous, slender. Europe, &c. (Britain). Perennial herb. 
(Sy. En. B. 185.) 
POLYGALEZ. A natural order of herbs or under- 
shrubs, occasionally twining, or erect or climbing shrubs, 
rarely small trees, glabrous, tomentose or villous, dis- 
persed over the temperate and warmer ions of the 
globe. Flowers hermaphrodite, irregular, solitary or centri- 
petally spicate or racemose, rarely paniculate, axillary 
or terminal; sepals five, free, closely imbricated, the two 
inner ones larger, petaloid, wing-formed ; petals three or 
five, hypogynous, the two lateral free or united at their 
base with the lower concave or galeate (keel), in the gamo- 
petalous corolla split behind, rarely absent; upper two 
sometimes equal to the lateral, enveloping ‘the keel in: 
-æstivation, sometimes small, sealo-like, or absent ; stamens 
eight, rarely five or four, above the middle monadelphous 
or rarely free, the outer ones often more or less connate 
with the petals; pedicels usually articulate at base, 
bracteate and bracteolate. Fruit a capsule, berry, or 
drupe. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, simple, 
entire; stipules none. The species contain tonie and 
astringent properties. Several of the European Polygalas 
find a place in our Materia Medica as remedies for lung 
diseases ; the root of P. Senega has a stimulating action 
on the pulmonary mucous membrane. The order includes 
fifteen genera and about 400 species. Illustrative genera 
are: Monnina, Muraltia, and Polygala. 
POLYGONASTRUM. A — of Smilacina 
(which see). 
POLYGONATUM (the old Greek name, — by Dice 
corides, from poly, many, and gonu, a knee-joint ; alluding — 
to the ously-joi stem). Solomon’s Seal. Syns. 
Axvillaria, Evallaria. Orp. Liliacee, A genus comprising 
(according to Mr. Baker) twenty-three species of pretty, 
mostly hardy, herbaceous, border plants, broadly dispersed 
over North temperate regions. Flowers nodding or pendu- 
lous, solitary in the axils, or frequently shortly and loosely 
racemose or sub-umbellate, on short peduncles; perianth — 
marcescent, at — — with short, — 
1G. 224. POLYGONATUM —— showing Habit and 
detached Flowe 
lobes. Berry globose, — Leaves alternate, opposite, 
or whorled, ovate, lanceolate, or linear, in one species — 
shortly cirrhose-acuminate at apex. The species, the 
best known of which are here described, are of very 
easy culture in a moderately good, loamy soil. They are 
all all hardy, except where otherwise stated, and are admirably _ e 
adapted for naturalising in woods and copses. P., multi- : 
florum, the common Solomon's Seal, is a fine subject for 
The plants may be grown in the —— : 
