POLYGALACE.*:. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 121 



Var. latifdlia, Torr. & Gray. Taller, sonjetimes branched ; leaves ovato 

 or ovate-huKColate, 2-4' long, taperin<; to each cud. — Md. to Mich, and Ky. 



4. P. alba, Nutt. Steins several from a liard rootstock, r^lii|^h; leaves 

 narrowly linear, 3- 12" lon<^, acute ; wings oblong-obovate ; crest small ; lobes 

 of the caruncle half the length of the apprcssed-silky seed. — Neb. and Kan. 

 to Tex. 



* * Annuals, with all the leaves alternate ; Jlowers in terminal spikes, heads or 



racemes, purple or rose-color, in summer; none subterranean. 



H- Keel conspicuously crested ; claws of the true petals united into a long and 



slender cleft tube much surpassing the wings. 



5. P. incarn^ta, L. Glaucous ; stem slender, sparingly branched ; leaves 

 minute and linear-awl-shaped; spike cylindrical; liowers Hesh-color; caruncle 

 longer than the narrow^ stalk of the hairy seed. — Dry soil, I'cnn. to Wise, 

 Iowa, Neb., and southward ; rather rare. 



•♦- H- Keel minuteli/ or inconspicuously crested ; the true petals not longer but 

 mostly shorter than the wings ; seed pear-shaped. 



6. P. sanguinea, L. Stem sparingly branched above, leafy to the top ; 

 leaves oblong-linear ; heads globular, at length oblong, very dense (4-5" thick), 

 bright red-purple (rarely paler or even white); pedicels scarcely any ; wings 

 broadly ovate, closely sessile, longer than the pod ; the 2-parted caruncle almost 

 equalling the seed. — Sandy and moist ground; common. 



7. P. fastigi^ta, Nutt. Stem slender, at length corymbosely branclied ; 

 leaves narroicly linear, acute, 3-8" long; spikes short and dense (.3" in diam- 

 eter) ; the small rose-purple flowers on pedicels of about the length of the pod ; 

 wings obovate- or oval -oblong, narrowed at the base, scarcely exceeding the 

 pod ; bracts deciduous with the flowers or fruits ; caruncle as long as and nearly 

 enveloping the stalk-like base of the minutely hairy seed. — Fine barrens of 

 N. J. and Del. to Ky., and southward. 



8. P. Nuttallii, Torr. & Gray. Kesembles the last, but usually lower; 

 spikes cylindrical, narrow; flowers duller or greenish purple, on very short 

 pedicels ; the aw 1-shaped scaly bracts persistent on the axis after the flowers or 

 fruits fall; seed very hairy, the caruncle smaller. — Dry sandy soil, coast of 

 Mass. to Mo., and southw^ard. — Spike sometimes rather loose. 



9. P, Curtissii, Gray. Slender (9' high) , leaves, etc., a.s in the two pro- 

 ceding , flowers rose-purple, in usually short racemes; pedicels about equalling 

 or exceeding the persi.stent bracts; the narrow oblong erect wings fully twice the 

 length of the pod : caruncle small, on one side of the stalk-like ba.«!e of the very 

 hairy seed, which is conspicuously apiculate at the broader end. — Md. to Ga. — 

 The species was founded upon an abnurnial form with elongated racemes and 

 pedicels. 



» * * Annuals with at least the lower stem-ieaves whorled in fours, sometimes in 



Jives ; spihes terminating the stem and branches ; fl. summer and autumn. 



•*- Spikes short and thick (4-9" in diameter) ; bracts persisting after the fall of 



the (middle-sized) I'ose or greenish purple Jlowers ; crest small. 



10. P. cruciita, L. Stems (3-10' high) almost winged at the angles, 

 with spreading opposite branches; leaves nearly all in fours, linear and some- 

 what spatulate or oblanceolate ; spikes sessile or nearly so; icings broadly 



