244 CONSPECTUS POLYGALARUM EUROP^ARUM. 



of the small and very distinct subsection which comxDrises P. nums- 

 peUaca only, they are all perennial ]3lants, with the anthers quite 

 sessile on the split filament- sheath, and the arillode of the ripe 

 seed fm-nished with three white fleshy appendages, less than half 

 the length of the seed. The section is very distinctly European 

 in its distribution, 13 out of the 20 European species belonging 

 to it, while none extend beyond Western and Northern Asia and 

 Noi'th Africa, and only two species of the section, P. papilionacea 

 and P. pruinusa/''' both natives of Asia Minor, are not found within 

 the limits of the Continent. Both these species have been erro- 

 neously included in the European flora. The specimens bearing 

 the name P. papilionacea in the Kew Herbarium (Munro, No. 84) 

 are distinctly P. major, while the P. pniinosa of Boiss., 'Diag.,' i., 

 1, 8, included two dift'erent forms, subsequently separated by the 

 author ; the true P. pruinosa being confined to Phrygia, while the 

 Grecian plant was subsequently (' Diag.,' ii., 1, 58) re-named 

 P. niccrensis var. tomentella. 



A. Perennials ; anthers sessile ; stigma hooded or beaked, the 

 anterior lobe the largest ; arillode 3-appendiculate. 

 a. Wing-sepals equal to or longer than corolla-tube. 

 * Flowers blue, rose-coloured, or white. 



a. Bracts much shorter than the pedicel; the raceme, 

 therefore, not comose. 



1. PoLYGALA VULGARIS, Limi. P. caulibus ascendentibus vel decum- 

 bentibus ; foliis ovalibus vel lanceolatis, imis minoribus, 

 summis etiam lineari-lanceolatis ; racemis terminalibus, 

 pyramidalibus, sat densifloris ; bracteis lateralibus quam 

 pedicellum dimidio brevioribus ; alis ovalibus vel obovatis, 

 quam capsulam parum longioribus sed distincte latioribus, 

 corollam subaequantibus, venis anastomosantibus ; stylo 

 acuto ; capsula obcordata, subsessili, quam alas persistentes 

 virides plerumque angustiore brevioreque ; seminibus 

 hu'sutis ; arillodio tribus brevibus obtusis appendicibus sub- 

 aequalibus munito. 

 One of the most widely distributed species of the genus, 

 occurring throughout Europe with the exception of Sicily (according 

 to Caruel), where it is apparently replaced by P. Preslii, and as far 

 north as Scandinavia ; in North Africa (not, however, named in 

 Ball's 'Spicilegium Flone Maroccanse '), and in western temperate 

 and subarctic Asia; growing in grassy situations, heaths, and hill- 

 sides, to a considerable altitude ; flowers most usually blue, though 

 not unfrequently white, pink, lilac, or purple. It is very difficult 

 to define the limits of this species and P. calcarea, on the one 

 hand, while in the south of Europe the more luxuriant forms 

 appear to run insensibly into P. comosa. Of the numerous forms 



There is, also, in the Kew Herbarium, a single specimen of an apparently 

 distinct unileseribed species belonging to this section, from Persia, bearing the 

 MS. name, P. jjemica. 



