POL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



POL 



373 



3. Polygala Braziliensis; Brazilian Milkwort. Flowers 

 subspiked ; steins quite simple ; leaves lanceolate, scattered ; 

 spike straight, terminating, white, with the flowers on very 

 short pedicels, without bractes. Native of Brazil. 



4. Polygala Trichosperma ; Hairy-seeded Milkwort. Flow- 

 ers in spikes ; stems rod-like, striated ; leaves linear ; root 

 perennial ; spikes terminating, oblong, toothletted below from 

 the falling of the flowers ; corolla minute, white. Nearly 

 allied to the first species. Native of New Granada. 



5. Polygala Amara ; Bitter MUkwort. Flowers in racemes ; 

 stems almost upright; radical leaves obovate, larger. This 

 agrees so nearly in habit with the next species, that they are 

 not readily distinguished. The radical leaves are thicker 

 and obovate, wider and very blunt; the stem-leaves more 

 declining. The whole plant, except the root, is always 

 extremely bitter ; a leaf slightly chewed affects the tongue 

 very strongly, soon diffuses itself over the whole jaws, and 

 continues a long time. Probably the virtues attributed to 

 the thirty-third species reside in this equally. Gesner asserts, 

 that an infusion of it purges without any harm : a tincture 

 of four ounces of it, in a pint of Canary wine, is extremely 

 bitter, and of a brownish colour. It is employed in the 

 pleurisy, in malignant and milk fevers, and 'in pulmonary 

 consumption. A drachm of the root in powder, is given as 

 a dose ; or an ounce, in a pint and half of water, boiled 

 down to a pint, and drank with milk. The thirty-second sort 

 is more stimulant and resolvent, but this appears to abound 

 in balsamic resin. It is certainly more efficacious than Com- 

 mon Milkwort ; but that is probably owing to its growing in 

 mountainous situations. Allioni considers it as biennial. 

 Native of France, Switzerland, Silesia, Austria, Carniola, and 

 Piedmont. Sow the seeds of this, and of the three following 

 species, soon after they become ripe. These are rarely admit- 

 ted into gardens, where they do not thrive well. 



6. Polygala Yulgaris; Common Milkwort. Flowers in 

 racemes; stems herbaceous, simple, procumbent; leaves 

 linear-lanceolate. The perennial woody root throws out 

 many spreading procumbent stems, clothed with deep green 

 smooth leaves, which vary much in si/.e and figure. The 

 flowers are commonly blue, but are often white, flesh-coloured, 

 or purple, and in all cases maiked with green lines: their 

 form is singular and elegant, like little flies, and they com- 

 pose long terminal clusters. The permanent calix turns at 

 length wholly green, and wraps up the young pod, closing 

 and drooping to protect it from rain ; so that the elegant 

 fringed crest of the corolla protects the stamina and pistilla, 

 admitting air, but excluding rain and insects. The whole 

 herb is very bitter. An infusion of it, taken to the amount 

 of a quarter of a pint every morning, fasting, has been suc- 

 cessfully given for a catarrhous cough. Allioni says, it has 

 the same properties as the preceding species, in an inferior 

 degree, and with less of the balsamic principle, though it is 

 not to be despised as a succedaneum to the thirty-third spe- 

 cies, in pleurisy and peripneumony, and that it also promotes 

 expectoration. It possesses the virtues of the Rattlesnake 

 Root, but in an inferior degree. It has been used in pleu- 

 retic cases with many happy effects : see the thirty-second 

 species. The powdered root may be taken in doses of half 

 a drachm or more, or a strong decoction may be drank to 

 the amount of a pint or more in a day, in which quantities 

 it sometimes acts as a brisk purgative, and sometimes it only 

 operates by sweat. Foreign writers celebrate it as a grateful 

 nutriment for cattle : according to Linneus, cattle, sheep, 

 and goats eat it, but swine refuse it. It is the only British 

 species, and is chiefly found in dry barren pastures, heaths, 

 or sheep-walks, though it is a native of most parts of Europe 



and of Barbary, in dry heathy pastures, and on rocks, flow- 

 ering in June and July. 



7. Polygala Major ; Large Milkwort. Flowers in racemes ; 

 stem herbaceous, simple ; leaves linear, lanceolate. This is 

 very nearly allied to the preceding, but the flowers are always 

 of a bright red purple, and the whole of the plant is larger, 

 and more upright. Probably a variety only. Native of 

 Austria. 



8. Polygala Monspeliaca ; MontpelUer Milkwort. Flowers 

 in racemes ; stem upright ; leaves lanceolate, linear, acute ; 

 root annual. Native of the south of France, of Piedmont, 

 and of Algiers, on barren hills. 



9. Polygala Paniculata ; Panided Milkwort. Flowers 

 crested ; clusters lateral, on very long stalks ; stems herba- 

 ceous, erect, branched at top ; leaves linear, acute. Root 

 annual ; branches filiform, erect, leafy, smooth ; flowers 

 minute, purplish, nodding, on very short pedicels. This 

 beautiful little plant is a native of Jamaica and Hispaniola. 

 It has much the smell and taste of the thirty-second species, 

 but is not so strong and disagreeable. It is a mild attenuant 

 and sudorific, and may be administered in infusions 01 

 decoctions. 



10. Polygala Sibirica; Siberian Milkwort. Racemes late- 

 ral, naked ; stems herbaceous ; leaves lanceolate. This has 

 the habit of the preceding species. Native of Siberia. 



11. Polygala Bracteolata ; Spear-leaved Milkwort. Flowers 

 in racemes ; bractes three-leaved ; leaves linear-lanceolate, 

 smooth ; stem erect, shrubby. This is a plant of great sin- 

 gularity and beauty : the purple of its flowers is brilliant in 

 the extreme. There are four varieties worthy of notice : The 

 first has the keel longer than the crest, the stem branched, 

 and linear-lanceolate leaves. The second has the leaves 

 linear-subulate, and the keel shorter than the crest, with a 

 larger purple flower. The third has subulate leaves, the 

 stem quite simple, and a smaller purple flower. The fourth 

 has the leaves linear, blunt, and rugged, the stem branched, 

 the flowers very small, whitish, or pale purple. The stem 

 is shrubby in all, and the bractes are remarkable; whence 

 the trivial name. They flower from May to July, and are 

 natives of the Cape of Good Hope. This, and all the other 

 Cape sorts, may be increased by cuttings, some more readily 

 than others. 



12. Polygala. Umbellata ; Umbelled MUkwort. Flowers 

 subumbelled ; leaves linear, subciliate ; stem scarcely suffru- 

 ticose, a span high, somewhat branched, erect: annual or 

 biennial. Native of the Cape. 



13. Polygala Myrti folia; Myrtle-leaved Milkwort. Keel 

 of the corolla crescent-shaped ; stem shrubby ; leaves even, 

 oblong, blunt. The flowers are very elegant, and are pro- 

 duced at the ends of the branches ; they are large, white on 

 the outside, but of a bright purple within ; wings expanded 

 wide, and standard incurved. Each cell of the seed-vessel 

 contains one hard, smooth, shining seed. It continues flow- 

 ering most part of the summer. Native of the Cape. This 

 plant is propagated by seeds, which should be sown in small 

 pots. -filled with light loamy earth; soon after they are ripe 

 these pots may be placed where they may have the morning 

 sun only, till October, when they should be placed under a 

 hot-bed frame, and plunged into old tanner's bark, which has 

 lost its heat, where they may be defended from frost during 

 the winter ; and in the sprkig the pots should be plunged 

 into a moderate hot-bed, which will bring up the plants. 

 When these appear, they should not be too tenderly treated, 

 but must have a large share of free air admitted to them ; 

 when they are fit to transplant, they should be carefully 

 shaken out of the pots, and separated, planting each into a. 



