Poll/f/ala.'] XIV. POLYGALE^. 139 



Kaccuies lateral. Inner sepals herbaceous, mucronate, usually fal- 

 cate. Crest fringed. Style with 1 large hooked or rcllcxed 

 stigmatic lobe. 



^ Eaceines shorter than the leaves, or if longer, very dense. 



Leaves orbiciJar 5. P. orbicularis. 



Leaves from obovate to linear. 



Capsules broailly Avinged and ciliate 4. P. rhhianili aides, 



( Capsules wingless and glabrous or nearly so ^, F. arvensis. 



Racemes slender, much longer thau the leaves 7- P. stenoclada. 



1- P. japonica, Iloutt. Sj/st. 8, t. 62, /. 1, according to DC. Frod. i. 



324. Rootstock perennial, often woody with age, emitting nniuerous rather 

 slender leafy stems, decumbent or erect, rarely more than 6 in. long, more or 

 less pubescent. Leaves nearly sessile, the lower ones ovate, obtuse and small, 

 the upper ones elliptical or lanceolate, acute, | to f or rarely 1 in. long, of a 

 rather firm consistence, glabrous and almost shinino^, disliuctly veined. Ea- 

 cemes lateral, sometimes of 2 or 3 flowers only, and shorter than the leaves, 

 sometimes 6- to 8-flowered and longer. Bracts small and deciduous, but less 

 so than in most species. Outer sepals narrow -lanceolate; inner ones ovate, 

 obtuse, 2 to 3 lines long and not oblique. Keel-petal crested. Ovary gla- 

 brous. Style thickened, incurved, with 2 unequal stigmatic lobes, the upper 

 one arcliing over the lower short one. Capsule about 3 lines long and broad, 

 including the rather broad wing. Seeds obovate, slightly pubescent, with a 

 3-lobed caruncle.— P. veronicea, F. :\ruell. PI. Vict. i. 184. 



Queensland. Dawson ami Brisbane rivers, F. Mueller, 

 ^ W. S, "Wales, Botany Bay, R, Brotcu ; Paramatta to the Blue Mountains, and shaded ■ 

 situations near B:ithurst, A. Cunningham; Port Stepbcus, Lad^ Parry ; Hastings and Mac- 

 leay rivers, Brckler ; New England, C. Stuart. 



Victoria, Grassy or gravelly places on the Goulburu and Ovens rivers and their 

 lower tributaries, P. Mueller. 



Also in the hilly regions of tropical Asia and northward to Japan, I can, indeed, find no 

 difference between the Australian and the Japanese specimens, except that tbc flowers in 

 thu latter are rather larger : bnt several Khasia specimens are precisely like the Anstrahan 

 ont^s. p, elcgans. Wall., from East India and China, differs slightly in the racemes most 

 fi'cqucntly terminal with numerous flo-wers. 



2. P. leptalea, DC. Prod. i. 325. An erect, glabrous, slender annual, 

 suuple or slightly branched, usually 1 to H ft. high. Leaves few, linear, the 

 longer ones about 1 in., the uppermost much snuiller, and the bwer ones 

 sometimes shortly oblong. Fiowers small, numerous, pendulous, in a 1 -sided 

 terminal raceme, on pedfcels which rarely attain 1 line. Outer sepals nanw- 

 ohlong, obtuse, the lowest rather larger and concave i inner sepals nearly twice 

 ^^ large, petal-like, broadly oblong, obtuse, 2 to 2| lines long. Keel-petal 

 crested. Style scarcely thfckened, much curved, inflexed at the summit with 

 au entire capitate stigma. Capsule broadly oblong, rather shorter than the 

 mner sepals, with a narrow transparent wing. Seeds hirsute with reflexed 

 hairs, the caruncle very small.— P. oUgoplylla, DC. Prod. i. 325. 



N. Australia. Upper Victoria river, F, Mueller ; Port Essington, -4rm//-o«y. 

 Queensland. Endeavour river, 7?. Brown. 

 IVequent iu northern and eastern India. 



3. P. eriocephala, F. MuelL Ilerh. A more or less pubescent annual, 

 iu our specimens little branched and not exceeding 6 in. Leaves linear or 



