Poll/gala. POLYGALACE^. 455 



Hues long and a line or line and a half broad : slender long-peduncled spikes of small white 

 flowers very tapering, 1 to 2 inches long : capsule smaller than in the related species at 

 full maturity scarcely a line in length, two thirds as broad : small cvliudrical apijress'ed- 

 hairy seed with bilobed caruncle half its length ; the lobes not imbricated. — Monogr. Polvg 

 140, t. 20, f. 19, 20. P. Bojjkmii, var. sparsifolia, Wheelock, 1. c. 121. — Coral soil.Cudioe 

 Key, S. Florida, Curtiss, no. 503* ; fl. early spring. Amply distinct from P. Boykini in its 

 capsule as well as smaller leaves and scoparious habit. 



c. Species of western range : capsule short-oblong. 

 P. alba, NuTT. Root single, of doubtful perhaps varying duratiou : stems erect, 8 to 20 

 inches in height, leafy up to or somewhat above the middle, terminating in slender naked 

 peduncles : leaves all alternate, or the lowest verticillate, narrow, oblong to linear, half mch 

 to inch iu length, a line in breadth ; the lowest ones broader, spatulate, obtu.se, the others 

 acute : spikes 1 to 3 inches loug, at first very dense : flowers white : wings ovate, narrowed 

 at base, e.xceediug the capsule : 2-lobed caruncle about half the length of the oldong dark- 

 colored appres.sed-villous seed. — Gen. ii. 87; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 1,31 ; Gray, PI. Feudl 30 

 PL Wright, i. 38, & ii. 30 (excl. Sonoran plants); Wheelock, 1. c. 136; Ch'odat, 1. c. 135^ 

 t. 20, f. 13, 14. — Plaius, Louisiana to Dakota and westward to Washington and Arizona! 

 (Mex.) Common and at the Southwest somewhat variable. 



Var. SUSpecta, Watson. Lower in stature, with more slender perhaps annual root 

 and decumbent stems : all of the leaves or at least the lower and middle cauliuc verticillate, 

 oblong-lanceolate : flowers (sometimes erubescent), fruit, and seed essentially as iu the typ- 

 ical form.— Proc. Am. Acad. xxi. 416. P. alba, form, Gray, PI. Wright, ii. 30, as to 

 Sonoran plants. P. alba, var. Schaffneri, Chodat, 1. c. 137. — Mountains of Arizona, Lem- 

 moti, Wilcox. (Common in Mex., where coll. by Seemann, Gregc], Wright, Srhaffher,'Parr,/ 

 & Palmer.) Very closely related if not identical is P. bicolor,'KBK. Nov. Gen. & Spec. v. 

 394, t. 507, regarded both by Gray and by Chodat as a low variety of P. alba. The North- 

 ern Mexican P. subalata, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xxvi. 132, of identical habit, appears to 

 differ only in seed-characters of doubtful constancy. 



++ ++ Strictly annual (except P. setacea) : root slender, simple or 1)ranched and perpendicu- 

 lar, or of slender fascicled fibres, neither ligneous nor thickened : stem single at base 

 (rarely 2 or 3 in the leafless P. setacea), erect, sometimes branching from the lower inter- 

 nodes but not from a caudex. 



= Leaves all alternate : petals united into a slender tube more than twice tlie length of the 

 spatulate wings. 



P. incarnata, L. Tall slender flexuous smooth and glaucescent annual, simple or few- 

 branched : stems angled, often almost naked : leaves narrow, linear, acute, erect, seldom 

 over half inch long, sometimes much reduced : spikes terminating the axis and elongated 

 branches, cylindric, rather dense : tubular corollas roseate, spreading from near the summit, 

 2 lines or more in length, conspicuously crested : fruit soon exposed. — Spec. ii. 701 ; Hill, 

 Veg. Syst. xxii. t. 51, f. 1 ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 84; Chapm. Fl. 84; Gray, Man. ed. 1-6; 

 Wheelock, 1. c. 124; Chodat, 1. c. 189, t. 22, f. 10-18. —Dry thin soil, oak and pine barrens, 

 al,?o on prairies. New Jersey to S. Ontario, Dodge, ace. to J. M. Macoun, Wisconsin, Indian 

 Territory, Bush, and southward to Florida and Texas ; fl., ace. to situation, from April to . 

 September. The var. /3 of Torr. & Gray (Fl. i. 129 ; P. panicnlata, LeConte, not L.) coll. 

 in Georgia by LeConte, and described as paniculately branched, almost leafless, and with 

 corolla-tube little exceeding the wings, is obscure, perhaps not of this species. 



= = Leaves all alternate: wings exceeding the corolla: root a fascicle of numerous slender 

 fibres : racemes elongated very slender and loosely flowered : species of tlie Southwest. 



P. paludosa, St.Hil. Very slender. glaI)rous, 1 to 2 feet high, simple below, mostly 

 branclied above ; the In-anches few, erect : leaves narrowly linear, very acute, erect : small 

 pale or rose-purple flowers at lengtli nodding on very short filiform pedicels in the sjcndcr 

 soon loosely flowered attenuate spicate racemes : elliptic-obovate cuneate-bascd wings and 

 short-oblong fruit about three fourths line in length ; seed pubescent and provided witli a 

 small bilobed caruncle about one eighth of its length. — Fl. Bras. Merid. ii. 8, excl. v.nrs. in 

 part ; Chodat, 1. c. 226, t. 24, f. 4, 5. P. leptocaulis, Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 130; Wheelock, 1. c. 



