124 Shaw—Structure of the Flowers in 
plants in reports of botanical excursions. Mr. Hollick? 
noticed on Montauk Point a form peculiar in color of flowers. 
Chodat”* describes briefly the structure of the cleistogamic 
flowers, and states that they may sometimes be seen in the 
upper clusters. 
Huth, in discussing different forms of fruits on plants of 
the same species, mentions P. polygama as peculiar among 
plants which bear cleistogamic flowers in the fact that the 
fruits are alike. 
In the summer of 1897 Dr. Macfarlane called my attention 
to the fact that the plants showed certain striking peculiarities 
which had not yet been described, and at his suggestion I 
undertook an investigation of them. A reference to this work 
appears in Dr. Schively’s paper on Amphicarpea.* An 
abstract of part of my work was read at the meeting of the 
“Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology,” held in 
New York City in December, 1808. 
Polygala polygama grows in sandy soil in many localities 
along the eastern coast-line and the Gulf States, but so far as 
I can learn, reaches its greatest development on the islands of 
Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and the adjacent portion 
of the Massachusetts coast. On the islands it is a constant 
feature of the meadows, growing as has already been noticed 
(Redfield), in company with Arctostaphylos. etc. In the 
neighborhood of Wood’s Holl it is abundant in all the open, 
dry, sandy fields, and even in woodlands; its long racemes 
being conspicuous among the wild flowers of the neighbor- 
hood. 
1 Torrey Bulletin, xviii, pp. 255-56. 
2 Monographia Polygalacearum. Memoires de la soc. de phys. et d’hist, nat. de 
Genéve, I89I, p. 135. 
3 Ueber geokarpe, amphicarpe und heterocarpe Pflanze. Abh. Ver. Natur- 
wiss., Frankfort a. Oder, viii, 1890, p. 89. 
* Bot. Contrib. Univ. Penn., vol. i, p. 335. 
