POLYGALA LUTEA. YELLOW MILK-WORT. 12; 



tune of the European species in boasting- of much popular his- 

 tory. As already noted, it is known in the South as " Yellow- 

 Bachelor's Button," from its great resemblance in form to the 

 GoinpJirciia giobosa, the Bachelor's Button of gardens ; but as 

 there is a yellow, as well as a white and purple of this, it seems 

 best to try to keep yellow milk-wort for a distinctive popular 

 name. The roots have a pleasant aromatic flavor, very like that 

 of Gaidthcria procmnbens, the "Tea-Berry" of New Jersey, and 

 among which the Polygala grows. Some of the species have 

 achieved remarkable msdical celebrity, but nothing especial is 

 recorded of this particular one. 



The genus Polygala will always have an interest to the botan- 

 ical student, from the remarkable structure of its flower. The 

 parts of all flowers were primordially leaves, that is to say, what 

 might, under some circumstances, have been leaves have become 

 parts of the inflorescence. The transition from leaves to floral 

 parts is always marked by a more rapid coiling of the spiral 

 growth which exists in all plants; but with this rapid coiling up 

 comes growth waves which have varying rhythmic intensities, 

 and by which each wave is distincdy marked. In plants allied to 

 Polygala, five of these primordial leaves would be caught in the 

 wave of growth before comparatively resting, and these would 

 then form a calyx whorl of five divisions. The next wave, with 

 the same scope, should arrest five more primordial leaves ; and 

 the force, having less intensity, would result in five colored divi- 

 sions of a corolla. But in the case of Polygala, the growth wave 

 seems to have caught but three primordial leaves to form a calyx, 

 leaving two of the usual number to be affected by the next wave, 

 and thus we have two of what usually would have been calyx seg- 

 ments acting as part of the corolla. In our Fig. 2 we have given 

 a back view of a flower, showing the two enlarged divisions and 

 two of the three small ones, the other being in front. Having 

 traced the typical and the actual flov/er thus far, the student will 

 look for the next whorl of five, which should form the five petals, 

 but so far two of these have not been traced. The remainder of 



