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POLYGALA SENEGA. ORD. XXV. Lomentacee. 453 
THE root is perennial, woody, branched, contorted, about the 
thickness of a finger, and covered with ash-coloured bark: it sends 
up several stems, which are simple, erect, slender, round, smooth, 
of a dark reddish colour, and rise nearly a foot in height: the 
leaves are oblong, or lance-shaped, acutely pointed, of a pale 
green colour, and stand alternately upon short footstalks: the 
flowers appear in June, they are white, of the papilionacéous 
kind, and grow in a close terminal spike: thé calyx is divided into 
three narrow persistent segments, two of which are placed beneath 
and one above the corolla: the corolla is composed of two exterior 
petals, or wings, which are flat, and of an oval shape; a short 
tubular standard, undivided at the mouth; and a flattened keel 
distended towards the end, from whence proceeds a pencil-shaped 
appendage: the filaments are eight, united at the base into two 
portions, and supplied with simple anther: the germen is oblong, 
and supports a simple erect style, furnished with a cloven stigma:. 
the capsule is inversely heart-shaped, and contains several small 
oblong seeds. 
This plant is a native of Virginia, and other parts of North 
America. It was first cultivated in England in 1759, by Mr. P. 
Miller,* who has published a figure of it, which will be found to » 
accord very accurately with the icon here annexed, which way 
drawn from the plant now in flower at the Royal garden at Kew. 
« This root, of no remarkable smell, has a peculiar kind of subtile 
pungent penetrating taste.” Its virtue is extracted both by water 
and spirit, though the powder in substance is supposed to be more 
effectual than either the decoction or tincture. The watety 
decoction, on first tasting, seems not unpleasant, but the peculiar» 
pungency of the root quickly discovers itself, spreading through 
the fauces, or exciting a copious discharge of saliva, and fre- 
quently, as Linnzus observes, a short cough: those to whom I 
2 Dict. Ed. 7.5. See Hort. Kew. 
> Bergias says, ‘‘ Sapor primum calidiusculus, deinde acidulus in faucibus- 
sentitur cum specie acrimoni, inberens cum siccitate” M, M. p, 596. 
No. 38.—vo.. 8. eG 
