520 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



d. Petals united into a cleft tube 6-8 mm. long, pinkish. 



P. incarnata, p. 522 

 dd. Petals not united into a tube. 

 e. Spikes ovoid or globose. 



/. Bracts persistent, after the falling of the rose purple 

 or greenish flowers. P. viridescens, p. 523 



//. Bracts deciduous, flowers rose pink. P. mariana, p. 523 

 ee. Spikes narrow, cylindrical. 



f. Leaves oblanceolate to linear, 4-12 mm. long, flowers 

 greenish, more or less tinged with purple. 



P. nultallii, p. 523 



ff. Leaves lanceolate, 25-50 mm. long, flowers white or 



tinged with green. P. senega, p. 524 



aa. Flowers rose pink, in a slender raceme, pedicels distinct, numerous 



cleistogamous flowers on root-like subterranean branches. 



P. polygama, p. 524 



aao. Flowers 1-4, large purple (14-20 mm. long), apparently terminal, leaves 



ovate or oblong (20-40 mm). P. pancifolia, p. 525 



POLYGALA L. 



Polygala lutea L. Orange Milkwort. 



PI. LXXVIL 

 Polygala lutea Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 705. 1753 [Virginia]. — Nuttall Gen. II. 88. 

 1818.— Pursh Fl. Am. Sept. 465. 1814.— Barton Fl. Phila. IT. 69. 1818.— 

 Knieskern 11. — Willis 17. — Britton 58. — Keller and Brown 210. 



Common in mioist sandy places in the Pine Barrens, and locally 

 in swamps in the Middle and Cape May districts. Not recorded 

 in the State north oi our region. 



This is one of the showiest plants of the Pine Barrens, one 

 of those that render the region so strikingly different from the 

 uplands beyond the fall line. I well remember my first visit to 

 the Pines, when the low moist spots were all dotted with the 

 brilliant heads of the Polygala, with here and there stalks of 

 white fringed orchis, and the small orange fringed orchis, so 

 like the Polygala in color, with Xyris and Briocaulon, and a 

 host of other things hitherto unknown. The mosquitos and 

 heat were nothing, when such a natural flower garden lay before 

 one's eyes, and the poor flora of my upland pastures seemed to 

 sink into insignificance beside such riches. 



When cut off by the scythe, as they frequently are on the 

 broad strips that are cleared away on each side of the railroad 

 as a protection against fire, they send up new shoots or branches, 

 which bloom late in the autumn. 



Fl. — Mid- Tune to mid-October. 



