278 A FLORA OF MANILA 
1. T. australasiae Rich. Bagnit (Tag.). 
A glabrous, scandent, woody vine several meters in length. oe 
oblong-ovate, acute, base rounded, 5 to 14 em long, the petioles with 
1 or 2 glands at the apex. Racemes terminal, 5 to 15 long. Flowers 
yellow, about 2 cm in diameter, the pedicels 1.5 to 3 cm long, opposite, 
with 2, small bracteoles below the middle. Petals oblong or oblong-ovate, 
base cordate, the claw slender. Fruit subglobose, about 12 mm in diam- 
eter, the carpel-wings 6 or 17, vertically compressed, spreading and 
recurved, linear-oblong. (FI. Filip. pl. 435.) 
In thickets near the seashore and along tidal streams, Tondo to.Caloocan, 
fi. most of the year; widely distributed in the Philippines along the sea- 
shore. Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to Australia. 
74. POLYGALACEAE (MILKWORT FAMILY) 
Annual or perennial herbs, scandent shrubs, or trees. Leaves alter- 
nate, entire, simple. Flowers perfect, irregular, 3-bracteate. Sepals 5, 
unequal, the inner 2 often petal-like. Petals 5 or 3, distinct, unequal, the 
lower one usually boat-shaped or keeled. Stamens 4 to 8, hypogynous, 
the filaments united into a sheath, rarely free. Ovary free, 1- to 3-celled; 
ovules 1 or more in each cell. Fruit generally a 2-celled, 2-seeded capsule, 
dehiscent or indehiscent. 
Genera 11, species about 720 of very wide distribution, 5 genera, and 
19 species in the Philippines. 
Inner sepals larger than the outer ones and petal-like; anthers 8. 
1. Polygala 
Sepals nearly equal; anthers.4 or 5; flowers minute, in terminal spikes. ~ 
2. Salomonia 
1. POLYGALA Linnaeus ; 
Erect, simple or branched, often slender herbs, rarely under-shrubs. 
Leaves alternate, rarely whorled, simple, entire, exstipulate. Flowers in 
terminal or axillary, short or elongated spikes or racemes. Sepals usually 
persistent, unequal, the 2 inner ones large and petal-like. Petals 3, united 
below with the staminal sheath, the lower one keel-shaped and usually 
crested. Stamens 8, the filaments united for the lower one-half into a 
sheath that is split down one side. Ovary 2-celled; ovules solitary. 
Capsule 2-celled, 2-seeded, small, loculicidal. (Greek “much” and “milk,” 
the name applied by Dioscorides to a plant that was supposed to increase 
the secretion of milk.) 
Species more than 400 in all parts of the world, about 7 in the Philip- 
pines. 
1. P. CHINENSIS L. 
‘A slender, erect, simple or sparingly branched, slightly pubescent, an- 
nual herb 6 to 20 cm high. Leaves alternate, linear-oblong to oblong- 
lanceolate, apex atute, apiculate, base acute, short-petioled, 1 to 3 cm long. 
Racemes axillary, solitary, few-flowered, much shorter than the leaves. 
Flowers horizontal or pendulous, about 5 mm long, the outer 3 sepals 
oblong-ovate, about 1.5 mm long, the inner two as long as the corolla, 
faleate, much longer than the compressed, oblong-ovate, retuse capsule. 
In open grass lands, near La Loma; of local occurrence in the Philip- 
pines, undoubtedly introduced. India to China, through Malaya to tropical 
Australia. 
