P O L Y G A L E .^. 93 



Ordee XIII. POLYGALE>E. 



A. L. de Jussieii, in Annales du Museum, xiv. 386 (1809). 

 Herbs or sbnibs often' witb milky juice. Leaves simple, entire, 

 exstipulate. Flowers, excei)t as to tbe pistil, simulating tbe papilio- 

 naceous ; but tbe affinities apparently witb certain allies of Euplioihia. 

 We bave but two species ; botb of tbe genus 



POLYGALA, D-insroHcIes. Ours low undersbrubs witb alternate leaves 

 and few irregular flowers in terminal cymes. Sepals 5, two larger tban 

 tbe otbers, lateral and petal-like. Petals 3, joined to eacb otber and to 

 tbe stamen-tube, tbe middle one booded above and beaked or crested. 

 Stamens 6—8, unequal, monadelpbous, forming a sbeatb, tbis ojjen on 

 one side, adnate to tbe base of tbe petals ; antbers 1 -celled, opening at 

 top. Ovary sbort, 2-celled ; ovules solitary, pendulous ; style long, 

 curved, dilated. Capsule membranaceous, flattened contrary to tbe 

 narrow partition, roiinded and notcbed at summit, debiscent at tbe 

 margin. Seed carunculate ; embryo large, in a tbin albumen. 



1. P. Califoruica, Nutt. in T. & G. FL i. 671 (1840) : P. cucullata, 

 Bentb. PI. Hartw. 299 (1849) : P. Nuikaaa, Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 49. t. 

 12 (1859), not of Moq. Stems many, slender, 2 — 8 in. bigb, from a woody 

 base, mostly simple : leaves glabrous or sligbtly pubescent, oblong- 

 lanceolate or ovate-elliptical, acute or obtuse, }4 — 1 ^^- long : fl. rose- 

 purple, on bractless pedicels 1 — 3 lines : outer sepals 23^^ lines long, 

 rounded saccate at base ; inner ones broadly spatulate, }4 in. long or 

 less : lateral petals linear-lanceolate, somewbat ciliate, equalling tbe 

 broad obtuse somewbat curved beak of tbe rounded bood : fr. mostly 

 from apetalous fl. near tbe root ; capsule glabrous, broadly ovate, ^4 in. 

 long, subsessile, refuse, narrowly margined : seed 2 lines long, pubescent ; 

 caruncle wrinkled and bladdery, calyptriform, balf tbe lengtb of tbe 

 seed. — In tbe Coast Range only, from Mendocino Co. soutbward. Nuttall's 

 description of bis P. Califoruica, and Bentbam's account of P. cucuUaia 

 are fully concordant, and tbe fact is certain tbat it was tbe Coast Range 

 species wbicb eacb bad in view. 



2. P. coruuta, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. i. 62 (1855) : P. Californica, 

 B. & W. Bot. Calif, i. 59, not of Nuttall. More woody tban tbe last, 

 stouter and more freely brancbing, ^^-^l ft. bigb : fl. greenisb wbite, all 

 fruiting : sepals densely tomentose : lateral petals only equalling tbe 

 bood, tbis witb a narrow straigbt beak : capsule ovate, }4 in. long, 

 emarginate or 2-tootbed at summit, narrowly winged : seed 3€ i^- ^ohg, 

 densely bairy ; caruncle terete, its tbin lateral wing partially covering 

 tbe body of tbe seed. — In tbe Sierra Nevada, at middle altitudes from El 

 Dorado Co. nortbward ; not reported from tbe Coast Range ; bence not 

 collected by Nuttall, nor known to Bentbam wben, unwittingly, be 

 republisbed Nuttall's species under tbe new name of P. cucullata. 



