82 POLYGALACEiE. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 



1. BYRSONIMA, Rich. 



Calyx with 10 glands at the base without. Petals 5. Stamens monad el phous 

 at the base. Styles 3. Fruit drupaceous, 3-cellcd, 3-seeded. — Racemes termi- 

 nal, simple or branched. 



1. B. lucida, Rich. Smooth ; stem much-branched; leaves coriaceous, 

 wedge-obovate, obtuse, entire, short-petioled, shining above, paler beneath, vein- 

 less ; racemes erect, bracted, simple, twice the length of the leaves ; pedicels 

 slender, spreading; petals yellow, orbicular-cordate, wavy, long-clawed ; drape 

 smooth, globose. — South Florida. — A small shrub. Leaves 1' long. Drupe 

 as large as a grain of pepper. 



Order 45. POLYGALACE^E. (Milkwort Family.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with entire exstipulate leaves, and irregular hypogy- 

 nous monadelphous or diadelpnous flowers. — Anthers 1 -celled, opening 

 by a terminal pore. Ovary 2-celled, with a single anatropous pendulous 

 ovule in each cell. Seeds often caruneulate. Embryo straight in scanty 

 albumen. Radicle superior. 



1. POLY GAL A, L. Milkwort. 



Sepals 5, persistent, unequal ; the two lateral ones (wings) larger and petal-like. 

 Petals 3, more or less united ; the middle one (keel) larger, and usually crested at 

 the apex. Stamens 8, rarely 6, united into a tube, or into two equal sets, and 

 also with the claws of the petals. Style curved, clavate. Stigma terminal or 

 lateral. Capsule 2-celled, 2-seeded. Seeds suspended, caruneulate. — Chiefly 

 herbs. Leaves alternate or whorled. Flowers in terminal Bpikea or racemes, 

 rarely axillary, or radical and imperfect. 



§ 1 . flowers in globose or oblong more or less compact spikes. 

 * Spikes corymbose : biennials. 



1. P. cymosa, Walt. Stem tall, simple ; leaves scattered, linear, acute, 

 the upper bract-like, the lowest long (6'- 9') and crowded; corymbs simple 

 or compound; wings oblong, abruptly acute; seeds minute, globosc-obovate, 

 smooth; caruncle none. (P. corvmbosa, Ell. P. aeutifolia, Torr.fr Gray. V. 

 graminifolia, Poir. P. attenuata, NtttU) — Pine barren ponds, Florida to North 

 Carolina, ami westward. .Inly. — Stems 2° -4° high. Corymbs very large and 

 compound, or small and simple. Flowers yellow, turning dark green in diving. 

 Plant yellowish. 



2. P. ramosa, EH. Stem low, simple, or branching and leafy from the 

 ■" the summit ; leaves fleshy, lanceolate, acute, scattered, the lowest Bpatu- 



late-obovate, obtuse, crowded; corymbs compound, fastigiate ; wings ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate ; lobes of tin- caruncle small, roundish, embracing the 

 ! tic minute oval hair\ Beed. (P. corymbosa, A'»//. P. cymosa, Poir.) — 



Low open pine barreni, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. July- Septem- 

 ber. — Stems 6'- 12' high. FloweFB yellow, turning green in drying. 



