Sapindales.] 



POLYGALACE.E. 



375 



Order CXXXIII. POL YGALACE^.— Milkworts. 



Polygaleae, Juss. Ann. Mus. 14. 386. (1809) ; R. Brown in Flinders; Jnss. Mem. Mm. 1. 385. ; DC. 

 Prodr. 1. 321. ; Aug. de St. Hilaire and Moquin-Tandon Mem. Mus. I7. 313. ; Wight's lllustr. 

 1. 46.; Endl. Gen. ccxxxiii. — Krameriaceae, Martins, Ed. pr. 87. — Trigoniaceae, Martins Consp 

 247. ; Endl. Gen. p. 1080.— Moutabea?, Endl. Ench. p. 365.— Soulameae, Id. p. 670. 



Diagnosis. — Sapindal Exogens, loith complete (irregular), unsymmetrical jlowers, naked 



petals, l-celled anthers ox^ning hy pores, and carunculate seeds. 



Shrubs or herbaceous plants, sometimes twiners. Leaves generally alternate, 



sometimes opposite, mostly simple, and always destitute of stipules. Flowers usually 



racemose, often small and inconspicuous, but showy in many species of Poly gala. 



Fig. CCLXI. 



Pedicels with 3 bracts. Sepals 5, vei'y irregular, distinct, often glumaceous ; 3 exterior, 

 of which 1 is superior and 2 anterior ; 2 interior (the A\-ings) usually petaloid, and 

 alternate with the upper and lower ones. Petals hj'pogjTious, usually 3, of which 1 is 

 anterior and larger than the rest (the keel), and 2 alternate with the upper outer, and 

 lateral mner sepals, and often connate with the keel ; sometimes 5, and then the 2 

 additional ones minute and between the wmgs and the lower sepals. Keel sometimes 

 entii'e, and then either naked or crested ; sometimes 3-lobed, and then destitute of 

 a crest. Stamens hypogynous, 8 usually combined in a tube, vmequal, and ascending ; 

 sometimes 4, and distmct ; the tube split opposite the upper sepal ; anthers clavate, 

 innate, mostly l-celled and opening at then' apex, sometimes 2-celled. 

 Disk either absent or present, regular or U'regular. Ovary superior, 

 compressed, \vith 2 or 3 cells, which are anterior and posterior, 

 the upper one occasionally suppressed ; ovules sohtary, very rarely 

 twin, pendulous, anatropal ; style simple, cm'ved, sometimes very 

 oblique and cucullate at the apex, which is also entire or lobed ; 

 stigma simple. Fruit usually opening tlu'ough the valves ; occasion- 

 ally indehiscent, membranous, fleshy, coriaceous, or drupaceous, wuaged, or apterous. 

 Seeds pendulous, with a caruncula next the hilum, naked or enveloped with hairs ; 

 the outer integument crustaceous, the inner membranous ; albumen abundant, fleshy, 

 rarely reduced to a thin gelatinous plate ; embryo straight, or slightly curved, with the 

 radicle next the hilum. 



The structm-e of this Order has been explamed by Aug. de St. Hilau*e and Moquin- 

 Tandon, from whose Memoir, above quoted, the foregoing character is extracted. 



Fig. CCLXI.— Polygala erioptera. 1. an entire flower seen from the side ; 2. the same cut open to 

 exhibit the stamens ; 3. the pistil ; 4. a section of a ripe seed ; in the middle is the embi-jo ; at the apex, 

 which represents the real base, is seen a caruncula. 



Fig. CCLXII,— Anthers of Polygala nilgaris, expanded. 



Fig. CCLXII. 



