POLYGALA FAMILY 413 



Bibliog. — Bennett, A. W., Polygalae Americanae novae vel parum cognitae (Jour. Bot. 17: 

 137-143, 168-173, 201-207, — 1879). Wheelock, W. E., The genus Polygala in North America 

 (Mem. Torr. Club 2:109-152, — 1891). Chodat, E., Sur la distribution et I'origine de I'espece 

 et des groupes chez les Polygalacees (Arch. Sci. Phys. Nat. Geneve 3me per. 25:695-714, — 1891) ; 

 Monographia Polygalacearum, i (Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Geneve 1890 supplem.' : 1-143, 

 t. 1-12,— 1891), ii' (I.e. 31-: 1-500, t. 13-35,-1893). Blake, S. F., Revision of the genus Polygala 

 in Mex., Cent. Am. and "West Indies (Contrib. Gray Herb. 47:1-122, pis. 1-2,-1916). 



1. POLYGALA L. Milkwort 



Stems often with milky juice. Sepals 5, thin, the two lower and the upper eon- 

 cave one of about the same size, the two lateral much larger, colored, and projecting 

 like the wings of a pea-flower. Petals 3, united at base, 2 forming a posterior pair, 

 the third anterior and called the "keel," hooded above and often beaked or crested, 

 enclosing the stamens and style. Stamens 8, monadelphous, the tube open on one 

 side and adnate to the base of the petals. Ovary 2-celled with one ovule in each cell ; 

 style long, curved. Capsule with thin walls, flattened contrary to the partition, 

 rounded and often notched above, dehiscing loculicidally at the margin. Seeds 

 with a conspicuous caruncle. — Species about 400, all continents. (Polus, much, 

 and gala, milk, an ancient Greek name for some shrub used as a stimulant.) 



Spineless plants; flowers in distinct racemes; cismontane. 



Beak of the keel broad, strongly curved; flowers purple; sepals glabrous or essentially so; 

 caruncle often wrinkled and bladdery, its lobes concealing the upper part of the 



seed like a cap; herbaceous; Coast Eanges 1. P. calif ornica. 



Beak of the keel slender, straight or nearly so; flowers greenish-white; sepals pubescent; 

 caruncle almost as long as the seed, not cap-like, but with a short lobe projecting 



downward a little on each side of the seed ; woody at base ; Sierra Nevada mostly 



2. P. cornuta. 

 Spiny plants; flowers in reduced racemes, often appearing solitary and axillary or subaxUlary; 

 desert region. 



Herb; leaves sessile; herbage green; flowers mostly pink 3. P. subspinosa. 



Shrub; leaves short-petioled ; herbage ashy-pubescent; flowers mostly whitish 



4. P. acanthoclada. 



1. P. califomica Nutt. Coast Polygala. Stems many from the crown of a 

 perennial root, mostly simple, 3 to 8 inches high; leaf -blades oblong- or elliptic- 

 ovate, % to 1% inches long, distinctly petioled; flowers of two sorts : those near the 

 root apetalous and developing most of the fruit; those of the terminal racemes with 

 rose-purple corollas 5 to 6 lines long; capsules broadly elliptical, 3 lines long. 



Wooded or brush-covered slopes, 50 to 3000 feet : coastal region from San Luis 

 Obispo Co. to Marin Co., the Napa Range and Trinity Co. North to Oregon. Not 

 reported from the inner Coast Range. May-June. 



Locs.— Eush Creek, Trinity Co., E. S. Yates 440 ; Hupa, Chandler 1328 ; Bull Creek, Hum- 

 boldt Co., Jepson 16,459; Cahto, Jepson; Ft. Bragg, W. C. Mathews 38, 185; Eed Mt., se. Mendo- 

 cino Co., Jepson 3032; Elk Mt., n. Lake Co., Tracy 2332; Mt. St. Helena, E. Ferguson 353; 

 Howell Mt., K. Brandegee; Sonoma Canon near Hood's Peak, Jepson 10,011; Monte Eio, Eussian 

 Eiver, E. Ferguson 236; Bodega, Vina W. Erager; Mt. Tamalpais, Jepson 13,573; Saratoga, 

 Santa Cruz Mts., Jepson 5160; Pacific Grove, Heller 6779; San Carpoforo, San Luis Obispo Co., 

 Condit. 



Eefs.— Polygala californica Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. 1:671 (1840), type from coastal Cal., 

 Nuttall; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 249 (1901), ed. 2, 244 (1911), Man. 593, fig. 589 (1925). P. 

 cucullata Benth. PI. Hartw. 299 (1849), type loc. in woods at Monterey, Eartweg 7. P. nutkana 

 Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 49, pi. 12 (1859), not Moc. (1824). 



2. P. cornuta Kell. Sierra Polygala. Stems several from the base, branch- 

 ing, woody below, 1 to 3 feet high; leaf -blades ovate to oblong or linear, % to 1^/4 

 (or 1%) inches long, shortly petioled; flowers greenish-white, 4 lines long, borne 

 in a short dense terminal raceme; outer sepals densely puberulent; lateral petals 

 scarcely equaling the keel; capsules orbicular. 



Rocky or gravelly slopes in the mountains, 1500 to 3500 feet : Sierra Nevada 

 from Fresno Co. to Siskiyou Co., thence south in the Coast Ranges to Lake Co. 

 June-July. 



