152 POLYGALACE^. Polygala. 



galeate anl somewhat beaked ; the appendage wanting, but in its place a short tuft of hairs. 



Dry rocky woods. Fl. Latter part of May to June. 



The root of this plant is a valuable medicine, and is well known in the shops. It is prin- 

 cipally employed as a stimulating expectorant and diaphoretic. Its powers depend on the 

 polygalic acid which it contains. See Wood ^ Backers U. S. Dispcns. p. 601. 



5. Polygala polygama, Wolf. Polyga7nous Milk-wort. 



Terminal racemes spiked, loose, the flowers at length pendulous ; wings broadly obovate, 

 spreading, longer than the corolla ; crest conspicuous ; radical racemes with wingless flowers ; 

 capsule oblong, emarginate ; lobes of the caruncle more than half as long as the very hairy 

 seed ; stems numerous, assurgent ; leaves oblong-lanceolate and oblong-linear. — Walt. fl. 

 Car. p. 179 ; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 75 ; Ell. sk. 2. p 181 ; DC. prodr. 1. p. 330 ; Hook.fl. Bar.- 

 Am.\.p.QQ.t.2Q; Beck, bot. p. i5 ; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N. Am. 1. p. 133. P. rubella, Willd. 

 sp. 3. p. 875 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 264, and med. hot. t. 54 ; DC. I. c. 



Biennial. Stems 5-10 inches high. Leaves about an inch long, slightly mucronate. 

 Terminal racemes 10 - 25-flowered : pedicels slender. Flowers about 2^ lines long, deep 

 rose-color or purplish. Wings with short claws. Style short and cueuUate ; gland exserted : 

 appendage strongly bearded. Radical racemes leafless, prostrate, often subterranean. Seed 

 almost villous : lobes of the caruncle somewhat distant. 



Sandy fields and woods ; pine plains near Rome, Oneida county, and in Suffolk county, 

 Long Island. Fl. June - July. The whole plant is very bitter. 



^3. Cham^buxus, Dill. Flowers few, large, terminal : posterior sepal concave-cucullate, with a 

 gland at the base on the inside : keel crested or callous at the tip. — Perennial herbs or small 

 shrubs. 



6. Polygala paucifolia, Willd. Fringed Milk-wort. 



Rhizoma creeping and branching, throwing up simple erect branches, which are leafy at 

 the summit, and furnished with scales below ; leaves ovate, petioled ; terminal flowers 2-3 

 (very large) ; crest fringed ; radical flowers wingless. — Willd. sp. 3. p. 880 ; Pursh, fl. 2. 

 p. 464 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 180 ; Bart. fl. Am. Sept. 2. t. 56./. 1 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 266 ; DC. 

 prodr. 1. p. 331 ; Hook, in hot. mag. t. 2852, and fl. Bor.-Am. \. p. 86 ; Beck, hot. p. 45 ; 

 Torr. 4- Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. p. 132. P. uniflora, Michx. fl. 2. p. 53. P. purpurea. Ait. 

 Kew. 4. p. 244 (not of Nutt.). Trichosperma grandiflora, Raf. speech. I. p. 7. 



var. alba, Eights : flower solitary, smaller, white ; stem somewhat leafy at the base. Beck, 

 bat. p. 46 ; Torr. ^ Gr. I. c. 



Perennial. Rhizoma slender, tortuous. Stalks 3 — 5 inches high ; the lower part fur- 

 nished with small ovate distant leafy scales. Leaves 4-5, about an inch long and half an 

 inch or more wide, the margin minutely fringed. Flowers neeirly three-fourths of an inch 



