120 POLYGALACE.E. (MILK WORT FAMILY.) 



ORDER JJI. POLYGALACEyE. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 



Plants with irregular liypogynous flowers, 4-8 diadelphous or monad t I- 

 pJious stamens, their \-celled anthers opening at the top by a pore or chink , 

 the fruit a ^-celled and 2-seeded pod. 



1. POLYGALA, Tourn. MILKWORT. 



Flower very irregular. Calyx persistent. of 5 sepals, of which 3 (the upper 

 and the 2 lower) are small and often greenish, while the two lateral or inner 

 (called icini/s) are much larger, and colnn-d like the petals. Petals 3, hypogy- 

 nous, connected with each other and with the stameu-tuhe, the middle (lower) 

 one keel-shaped and often crested on the hack. Stamens 6 or 8 ; their fila- 

 ments united below into a split sheath, or into 2 sets, cohering more or loss 

 with the petals, free above; anthers 1-celled, often cup-shaped, opening by a 

 hole or broad chink at the apex. Ovary 2-cellcd, with a single auatropous 

 ovule pendulous in each cell; style prolonged and curved; stigma various. 

 Fruit a small, loculicidal 2-seeded pud, usually rounded and notched at the 

 apex, much flattened contrary to the very narrow partition. Seeds caruncu- 

 late. Embryo large, straight, with flat and broad cotyledons, in scanty alba- 

 men. Hitter plants (low herbs in temperate regions), with simple entire often 

 dotted leave.-., and no stipules; sometimes (as in the first two species) bearing 

 clcMstoganioiis Mowers next the ground. (An old name composed of iro\vs, 

 much, and 70X0, milk, from a fancied property of its increasing this secretion.) 



* Perennial or biennial ; flowers purple or white ; leaves alternate. 



- Flowers showy, rose-purple, conspicuously crested; also bearing inconspicuous 

 color/ens clehtoyamous flowers <>n mibti rnuifiiii brunches. 



1. P. paucifblia, Willd. Perennial; flowering stems short (3 -4' high), 

 from long slender prostrate or subterranean shoots, which also bear concealed 

 fertile flowers; lower leaves small and scale-like, scattered, the upper ovate, 

 petio/ed, crowded at the summit ; flowers 1-3, lari/e, peduncled ; wings obovate, 

 rather shorter than the fringe-crested keel ; stamens 6 ; caruncle of 2 or 3 awl- 

 shaped lobes longer than the seed. Woods, in light soil, N. Eng. to Minn., 

 111., and southward along the Alleglianies. .May. A delicate plant, with 

 very handsome flowers, 9" long, rose-purple, or rarely pure white. Sometimes 

 called /-'loin-riii'/ Wintergreen, but more appropriately KIMNGED POLYGALA. 



2. P. polygama, Walt. Stems numerous from the biennial root, mostly 

 simple, ascending, very leafy (6-9' high); ln-<s oblanceolate or oblony : 

 terminal raceme luuaely man //-flowered, the broadly obovate wings longer than 

 the keel; stamens 8; radical flowers racemed on short subterranean runners; 

 lobes of the caruncle 2, scale-like, shorter than the seed. Dry sandy soil; 

 common. July. 



+- H- Flowers white, in a solitary close spike ; none cleistogamous. 



3. P. Senega, L (SENKCA SXAKKKOOT.) Stems several from thick 

 and hard knotty rootstocks, simple (6- 12' high) ; leaves lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, with rough margins ; wings round-obovate, concave ; crest short ; 

 caruncle nearly as long as the seed. Kocky soil, W. New Eng. to Minn., and 

 southward. May, June. 



