44 



A NOTE ON CERTAIN SPECIES OF POLYGALA 



BY 



K. Kangachariar, m.a., and C. Tadulingam, F.L.S. 

 Agricultural Research Institute, Coimbatore. 



During the month of December last year some species of Folygala 

 came up in great profusion and they were unusually dominant on the 

 Estate of the Agricultural College. They consisted of the four species 

 dealt with in this note. Out of these four, only one, Polygala chinensis 

 L. is included in Hooker's Flora of British India, and in Gamble's 

 Madras Flora this species and Polygala bolbothrix Dunn are included. 

 The other two species are merged under Polygala erioptera, DC. Prod. 

 i. 326 and Polygala chinensis Linn., although they differ very much 

 from these species. In Wight and Arnott's Prodromus 1.36, Polygala 

 Vahliana DC. is treated as a distinct species. 



Text fig. 1. P.-Vahliana :— A. a branch, 1. flower-bud, 2. an open 

 flower, 3. ovary, 4. corolla, 5. fruit, 6. fruit cut open, 7 seed. 



1. Polygala Vahliana DG. Prod. 326 : — This is a freely branching 

 herb. Stems and branches are procumbent and pubescent. Leaves 

 are oblong, narrowed downwards into a petiole, obtuse, mucronulate 

 or not, softly hairy on both the surfaces and varying in length from 

 3/16 to 7/16 inch. Kacemes are very short, opposite to the leaves or 

 lateral, 3 to 6 flowered ; bracteoles are very small and persistent. The 

 two inner larger sepals are somewhat membranous with a green mid- 

 nerve, elliptic, villous and about as long as the fruit. The petals are 

 pinkish and the keel is cristate. The capsule is very small, oval, 

 emarginate, glabrous on the faces and softly villous at the edges only, 



