XV. POLYGALACE.E. 59 



imbricate in bud, the 2 inner larger, sometimes very large, often peta- 

 loid (wing sepals). Petals 5 or 3, hypogynous, distinct, unequal, the 

 inferior usually keel-shaped. Stamens 8 (in Salomonia 4-5), hypo- 

 gynous ; filaments united into a sheath, rarely distinct ; anthers opening 

 by terminal pores, rarely by slits. Torus small, rarely expanded into an 

 annular disk. Ovary free, 1-3-celled ; ovules 1 or more in each cell, 

 anatropous ; style usually curved. Fi'uit generally a 2-celled, 2-seeded, 

 loculicidal capsule, or iudehiscent, or of 3 iudehiscent carpels. Seed 

 pendulous, often strophiolate, usually albuminous, often pilose. — Distrib. 

 Genera 15 ; species 400-500, throughout the warm regions of the 

 world, except New Zealand. 



1. POLYGALA, Linn. 



Herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or verticillate. 

 Flowers spicate or racemose. Sepals unequal, the 2 inner larger (wings) 

 usually petaloid. Petals 3, united at the base with the staminal sheath, 

 the lower one keeled and generally crested. Stamens 8 ; filaments 

 united for their lower half into a split sheath ; anthers opening by 

 pores. Ovary 2-celled ; ovule 1 in each cell, pendulous. Capsule 

 2-celled, loculicidal, 2-seeded. Seeds pilose or glabrous, almost always 

 strophiolate and albuminous. — Disteib. Throughout the warm regions 

 of the globe, except New Zealand and Tasmania ; species more than 200. 



Seeds with a strophiole. 

 Wings obtuse. 



Leaves lanceolate ; wings petaloid, glabrous ; capsule 



margined 1 . P. persicariisfolm. 



Leaves narrow-linear ; wings with a green midrib ; 



capsule not margined 2. P. erioptera. 



Wings acute or acuminate. 



Eacemcs long ; capsule not or scarcely ciliate 3. P. elongata. 



Racemes short, almost capitate ; capsule densely ciliate . 4. P. cJiinensis. 

 Seeds without a strophiole 6. P. irregularis. 



1. Polygala persicariaefolia, DO. Prodr. v. 1 (1824) p. 326. 

 Stem erect, (J-18 in. high, simple or branching, slender, grooved, pubes- 

 ceut. Leaves subsessile, 1-2 by ^-| in., oblong-lanceolate, mucronate, 

 glabrous on both surfaces or with a few scattered hairs, paler beneath, 

 margins ciliolate. Flowers rose-colored, in terminal and extra-axillary 

 racemes ; corolla much shorter than the wings ; crest a broad membranous 

 appendage with a multifid limb ; pedicels yo~8 ^"* ^°"§' fibfoi'M) curved 

 downwards ; bracts small, linear-lanceolate, acute. Outer sepals § in. 

 long, ovate-oblong, slightly deflexed. Wings membranous, broadly 

 ovate or suborbicular, with 3-5 conspicuous looping nerves, glabrous. 

 Capsules elliptic-oblong, emarginate, shorter than the wings, margins 

 thickened, ciliate. Seeds oblong, clothed with dense subappressed 

 hairs ; strophiole smooth, hemispheric, not appendiculate at the base. 

 Fl. B. I. V. 1, p. 202 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 13 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. V. 11 (1897) p. 124 ; Chodat, Monogr. Polygal. part 2, p. 331, t. 27, 

 tigs. 22-23. — Flowers: Aug.-Sept. 



On the highest Ghats east of Bombay, Dalzell ^ Gibson. I^onkan : Ghdts, Stocks ! 

 Deccan : Maliableshwar, Cooke ! ; Panchgani, Cooke ! ; Bowdhan hill near Poona, 

 Woodrow\ Kanaka: Law\ S. M. Countuy : Belgauiu, L'itckie, 34 I — Distrib. Tro- 

 pical Africa and Australia. 



