PINK 



COMMON MILKWORT. 



Polygala sanguinea. Milkwort Family. 



Stem. Six inches to a foot high, sparingly branched above, leafy to the 

 top. Leaves. Oblong-linear. Floivers. Growing in round or oblong heads 

 which are somewhat clover-like in appearance, bright pink or almost red, oc- 

 casionally paler. Calyx. Of five sepals, three of which are small and often 

 greenish, while the two inner ones are much larger and colored like the pet- 

 als. Corolla. Of three petals connected with each other, the lower one 

 keel-shaped. Stamens". Six or eight. Pistil. One. (Flowers too difficult 

 to be analyzed by the non-botanist. ) 



This pretty little plant abounds in moist and also sandy 

 places, growing on mountain heights as well as in the salt mead- 

 ows which skirt the sea. In late summer its bright flower-heads 

 gleam vividly through the grasses, and from their form and color 

 might almost be mistaken for pink clover. Occasionally they 

 are comparatively pale and inconspicuous. 



Polygala poly gama. Milkwort Family. 



Stems. Very leafy, six to nine inches high, with cleistogamous flowers 

 on underground runners. Leaves. Lance-shaped or oblong. Flowers. 

 Purple-pink, loosely clustered in a terminal raceme. Keel of Corolla. 

 Crested. Stamens. Eight. Pistil. One. 



Like its more attractive sister, the fringed polygala, this little 

 plant hides its most useful, albeit unattractive, blossoms in the 

 ground, where they can fulfil their destiny of perpetuating the 

 species without danger of molestation by thievish insects or any 

 of the distractions incidental to a more worldly career. Ex- 

 actly what purpose the little above-ground flowers, which appear 

 so plentifully in sandy soil in July, are intended to serve, it is 

 difficult to understand. 



FRINGED POLYGALA. 



Polygala paucifolia. Milkwort Family. 



Flowering-stems. Three or four inches high, from long, prostrate or 

 underground shoots which also bear cleistogamous flowers. leaves. The 

 lower, small and scale-like, scattered, the upper, ovate, and crowded at the 

 summit. Flowers. Purple-pink, rarely white, rather large. Keel of Corol- 

 la. Conspicuously fringed and crested. Stamens. Six. Pistil. One. 



" I must not forget to mention that delicate and lovely flower 

 of May, the fringed polygala. You gather it when you go for 



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