416 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



PoLTGALA Berlakdieri. A sleuder puberulent annual, branch- 

 ing above, 2 to 6 inches higli : leaves linear, acuminate, alternate or a 

 few of the lowermost opposite or verticillate, 4 to 8 lines long : raceme 

 sessile or nearly so, loosely flowered, an inch becoming 2 or 3 inches 

 long flowers white or pale pink, reflexed, the oblong obtuse petals 

 three fourths of a line long : capsule twice longer, narrowly oblong : 

 seed straight, cylindrical, acute at base with the short conical silky 

 caruncle, which is very shortly appendaged ; pubescence appressed- 

 villous, the upper hairs longer and extending beyond the top of the 

 seed. — Cumbre (323). Also collected by Berlandier (n. 721, 2138), in 

 November, 1830, at Sacahuales in the mountains of southern Tamau- 

 lipas between Tula and Tampico, and by Botteri at Orizaba (n. 1119, 

 in herb. Gray). 



PoLYGALA ALBA, Nutt., var. (?) SUSPECTA. Annual, or sometimes 

 biennial, with mostly decumbent stems (2 inches to a foot high) and 

 verticillate oblanceolate leaves, the upper narrower and alternate : 

 racemes shortly pedunculate or nearly sessile : petals more or less 

 tinged with pink : seed oblong-obovate, thinly appressed-pubescent, 

 with a somewhat cucuUate oblique pubescent caruncle, and lateral ap- 

 pendages half the length of the seed. — Norogachi (369). Apparently 

 common in northern Mexico, having been collected near San Luis 

 Potosi by Schaffner (4, 5) and Parry & Palmer (39), at San Antonio 

 de las Alanzanes by Dr. Gregg (371), in the Sierra Madre by See- 

 mann, in Sonora by "Wright, and in soutliern Arizona by Lemmon. 



Typical P. alba appears to be biennial or perennial, with taller 

 ascending stems, the leaves usually all narrower and rarely at all ver- 

 ticillate, the racemes long-pedunculate, with white or green-nerved 

 flowers (2 lines long), and oblong-elliptical capsules : seed oblong- 

 obovate, covered with closely appressed silky hairs, with a prominent 

 oblique glabrous or slightly pubescent cucullate caruncle, the lateral 

 appendages half as long as the seed. It ranges from the Upper 

 Missouri and Kansas to Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico 

 (725 Coulter; 30 Hartweg ; 1092 Thurber ; 68 Palmer). It has not 

 been found east of the Mississippi, Buckley's specimens from Ala- 

 bama, which have been referred to it, being a narrow-leaved form of 

 P. Boykinii. 



Of the species allied to P. alba, the perennial P. scoparia has a 

 narrowly elliptical capsule, and a straight linear seed (1^ lines long) 

 covered with subappressed villous pubescence (not retrorse, as origi- 

 nally described), with a slightly prominent oblique caruncle, the contig- 

 uous appendages more than half the length of the seed. P, Botkinii, 



