MILKWORT FAMILY POLYGALACEAE 
PURPLE MILKWORT 
Polygala sanguinea L. 
The Milkwort family is relatively small and of little 
economic importance except that a few of its members are 
used in medicine. Several species of Polygala occur in 
Illinois, but in most parts of the state this is 
the most common. 
It is a smooth annual herb 6-15 inches high, 
which branches above the middle and is leafy 
to the top. It is found in fields, meadows and 
open places in woods from Nova Scotia to 
Minnesota, south to Louisiana and North 
Carolina, and blooms from June to September. ~ 
The flowers are usually rose-purple but 
rarely greenish and even white. They are 
densely arranged in a globular or oblong head 
at the end of each branch. The single flower, 
as shown, is very irregular. There are 5 sepals, 
of which the uppermost and the 2 lowermost 
are small and greenish, whereas the lateral 2 
are large and colored like the petals. The 3 
petals are united into a tube which is split 
down the back. Filaments of 
the 6 or 8 stamens are united 
below into a split tube at- 
tached to the petals. The 
pistil has a 2-celled ovary and 
a long curved style, and de- 
velops into a 2-seeded pod. 
Each seed bears an outgrowth 
called a caruncle, which is 
nearly as large as itself. 
The Seneca Snakeroot, Poly- 
gala Senega L., is quite common in some places, especially in 
rocky soil. Several unbranched stems come from the thick and 
knotty rootstock, and bear the lanceolate, rough-margined leaves. 
The white flowers are borne in a terminal cylindrical spike. The 
wing petals are round-obovate and concave, and the crest on the 
back of the keel-shaped lower petal is. short. The caruncle is 
nearly as large as the seed. The plant blooms from May to July 
and is to be found southwest from New Brunswick, Hudson Bay 
and Alberta, Canada. 
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