5. 



POLYGALA CHAMiEBUXUS. 



Box-leaved Milkwort. 



DiADELPHIA. OCTANDRIA. 



Class 17. Orders. 



PoLYGALA. From iroXv, much, and yaXa,, milk; this plant being 

 supposed to make cattle yield much milk. The name occurs in 

 Pliny J and Dioscorides has iroXvyaXov. 



* 



Linn. gen. n. 851 . Linn. spec. 989. Linn. syst. 639. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Cal. Perianth five-leaved, small, permanent. Cor. subpapilionaceous. 

 Standard tubular, short, reflex mouth, bifid. Keel concave. Stam. 

 Filaments diadelphous, inclosed within the keel. Anthers simple. 

 Pist. Germ oblong. Style simple, erect. Stigma thickish, bifid. 

 Per. Capsule obcordate, two-celled, two-valved. Seeds solitary, 

 ovate. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Flowers scattered. Keel rounded at the tip. Stem shrubby. Leaves 

 lanceolate. 



The branches are closely set with stift" smoolh leaves of a 

 lucid green. The flowers proceed from between the leaves, 

 near the extremity of the branches ; each flower stands on a 

 peduncle proceeding from a kind of triphyllous cup formed 



