MILKWORT TRIBE 95 



is not a large pUuit, and dwarf specimens of the Purple Milkwort of North 

 America are frequently not more than an inch high. The shrubby species 

 vary from humble rigid plants to tall, graceful, drooping ones. The leaves 

 are generally bitter and astringent, and the roots, which are especially so, are 

 also acrid, and someAvhat resinous in flavour. Our British Milkwort has 

 these properties, but the species most remarkable for them is the North 

 American Snake-root {PuJygala senega), which has been highly extolled as a 

 medicine by some practitioners. The well-known Rhatany root of Chili is 

 the root of a species of Krameria, and possesses tonic and astringent pro- 

 perties. According to the analysis of a French chemist, it contains gallic 

 acid, but neither tannin nor resin. 



Milkwort (Folygala). — Sepals 5, the two inner coloured, wing-shaped ; 

 petals combined with the filaments, the lower one keeled ; capsule flattened, 

 2-celled, 2-valved ; seeds downy, crested at the base. Name from the Greek, 

 signifying much milk, the juice of the root being milky. 



Milkwort {Polygala). 



Common Milkwort (P. indgdris). — Lower petal crested in a starlike 

 manner ; wings of the calyx about equal in length to the corolla ; bracts 

 three at the base of each flower ; stems simple, ascending ; leaves narrow ; 

 l)ranches procumbent. Plant perennial. Those who are accustomed, during 

 May and June, to wander in the country where the soil is of chalk, and 

 where hilly pastures and open heaths abound, well know this pretty flower. 

 Its tufted stems, copiously furnished with dark-green leaves, and terminated 

 by spikes of purple, pale-blue, lilac, or purplish-red flowers, are very orna- 

 mental. The blossom of the Milkwort is very singular, and often puzzles 

 the inexperienced botanist by its general aspect of resemblance to the butterfly- 

 shaped flowers which belong to the Leguminous Order ; but it is rather the 

 calyx than the corolla which is, in this case, butterfly-shaped. One of its old 

 names was Hedge-hyssop; the French term it Le Polygale, the Germans 

 Kreuzblume, the Dutch Kruisbloem ; and it is the Folygala of the Italian and 

 Spaniard. But its old English names of Rogation Flower, Gang Flower, and 

 Procession Flower, invest this plant with a degree of interest, by reminding 

 us of the ancient usages with which it was connected. Rogation Sunday was 

 the Sunday before Ascension Day, on the three days preceding which it was 

 customary to offer prayers against plagues, fires, and wild beasts. Hence 

 these days were termed Rogation days, and as the bounds of the parish were 

 traversed on one of the days, it was termed also Gang week. On this day it 

 was formerly the custom of the clergy to walk around these limits, accom- 

 panied by the churchwardens and parishioners, many carrying garlands of 

 flowers ; after which the whole company went into the fields, and implored 

 that God would avert pestilence, tempests, and other ills. Mention of these 

 processions and litanies occurs as early as the year 550 of the Christian 

 era, and remains of them yet exist in the custom of walking in procession 

 around the bounds of the parish on one day of Rogation week. 



In Queen Elizabeth's time, the 103rd Psalm was usually sung on these 

 occasions ; and Izaak Walton tells how the pious Hooker took these oppor- 

 tunities to "drop some loving observations, and to express some pleasant 



