* POLYGALA FAMILY. 93 



•*- Leaves all alternate, naiTow. 



P. incarn^ta. From Penn. W. & S. ; stem slender, 6'- 12' high ; leaves 

 minute and awl-shaped ; the three united petals extended below into a long and 

 slender tube, the crest of the middle one conspicuous. 



P. sanguinea. Sandy damp ground : stem 4' - 8' high, leafy to the top ; 

 leaves oblong-linear; flowers bright rose-purple (sometimes pale or even white), 

 in a thick globular at length oblong head or spike, without pedicels. 



P. fastigi^ta. Pine-barrens from New Jersey S. ; slender, 4' - 10' high, 

 with smaller narrow-linear leaves, and oblong dense spike of smaller rose-purple 

 flowers, on pedicels as long as the pod ; bracts falling off. 



P. Nuttallii. Sandy soil, from coast of Mass. S. ; lower than the fore- 

 going ; flowers rather looser in more cylindrical spikes, greenish-purple ; awl- 

 shaped bracts remaining on the axis after the flowers or fruits have fallen. 

 •<- •<- Leaves all or all the lower ones in whorls of four. 



P. Cruci^ta. Low grounds : stems 3' - 10' high, 4-angled, and with spread- 

 ing branches ; leaves linear or spatulate, mostly in fours ; spike thick and short, 

 nearly sessile, its axis rough with persistent bracts where the flowers have fallen ; 

 wings of the flower broad-ovate or heart-shaped, bristly-pointed. 



P. brevifdlia. Sandy bogs from Ehode Island S. : differs from the last 

 only in more slender stems, narrower leaves, those on the branches alternate, 

 the spike stalked, and wings of the flower lance-ovate and nearly pointless. 



* * * Floivers (all summer) greenish-white or scarcely tinged with purple, very 



small, in slender spikes, none subterranean : leaves linear, the lower in 

 whorls of Jour or Jive. (T) 



P. verticill^ta. Very common in dry sterile soil; stem 5'- 10' high, 

 much branched ; all the leaves of the main stem whorled. 



P. ambigua. In similar places and very like the last, chiefly S. & W., 

 more slender ; only the lowest leaves whorled ; flowers more scattered and often 

 purplish-tinged, in long-peduncled spikes. 



* * * * Flowers white, small (iii late spring) in a close spike terminating simple 



tujied stems which rise from a perennial root, none subterranean : leaves 

 numerous, all alternate. 21 



P. Senega,' Seneca Snakeroot. A medicinal plant, commoner W., 

 5'- 12' high, with lanceolate or oblon*:, or even lance-ovate short leaves, cylin- 

 drical spike, round-obovate wings, and small crest. 



P. ^Iba. Common only far W. & S. W. ; more slender than the last, with 

 narrow-linear leaves, more tapering long-peduncled spike, and oval wings. 



***** Flowers rose-purple in a raceme, or single, largish : leaves alternate. 



P. grandifldra. Dry soil S. ; pubescent, with branching stems 1° high, 

 lanceolate leaves, crestless flowers scattered in a loose raceme (in late summer), 

 bright purple turning greenish. % 



P. pol^gama. Sandy barrens, with tufted and very leafy stems 5' - 8' 

 high, linear-oblong or oblanceolate leaves, and many-flowered racemes of hand- 

 some rose-purple flowers, their crest conspicuous ; also on short underground 

 runners arc some whitish very fertile flowers with no evident corolla. Fl. all 

 summer. @ 



P. paucif61ia, Fringed Poltgala, sometimes called Flowering Win- 

 TERGREEN. Light soil in woods, chiefly N. : a delicate little plant, with stems 

 3' - 4' high, rising from long and slender runners or subterranean shoots, on 

 which are concealed inconspicuous fertile flowers ; leaves few and crowded at 

 the summit, ovate, petiolcd, some of them with a slender-peduncled showy 

 flower from the axil, of delicate rose-red color (rarely a white variety), almost an 

 inch long, with a conspicuous fringed crest and only 6 stamens ; in spring. ^ 



§ 2. Shrubby species of the conservatory , from the Cape of Good Hope. 



P. oppositif61ia, with opposite sessile heart-shaped and mucronate leaves, 

 of a pale hue, and large and showy purple flowers, with a tufted crest. 



P. myrtifblia, has crowded alternate oblong or obovate leaves, on short 

 petioles, and showy purple flowers 1 ' long, with a tufted crest. 



