Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 193 



FIELD or PURPLE MILKWORT (Polygala san- 

 guinea) is a sturdy little pink-headed plant that grows 

 in fields or meadows or along roadsides, often in com- 

 pany with Hop Clover; it is a strange fact that the 

 flower heads of these very different species should 

 be shaped so nearly alike. The slender, erect, wiry 

 stems are very leafy and slightly branched at the top. 

 A single round or cylindrical flowerhead terminates 

 each branch, and others may be on slender peduncles 

 from the angles of the upper leaves. 



The flowers, proper, are concealed beneath the 

 large, broad, scale-like, crimson-pink sepals that tight- 

 ly overlap each other and form the head; these scale- 

 like sepals correspond to the wings on the Fringed 

 Polygala, the true petals and minutely crested keel 

 being shorter and not visible from the outside. The 

 small, stiff, acutely-pointed leaves are densely alter- 

 nated on the stem up to the flower head. The plant 

 grows from 6 to 12 inches high, and abounds through- 

 out the U. S. 



CROSS-LEAVED MILKWORT (Polygala cruciata) 

 has spatulate-shaped leaves arranged in fours around 

 the stem, cross-like. The stem is quite branchy, 

 and grows from 4 to 14 inches high. At the end of 

 each branch, seated within the four terminating 

 leaves, is a dainty little, globular, pink flower-head. 

 Its construction is more open than that of the preced- 

 ing species; the pink, sharply-pointed sepals do not 

 hug closely together, but are -slightly spread so that 

 the tiny petals and stamens may be seen. The little 

 heads bear considerable resemblance to tiny Red 

 Clover blossoms. 



We find this species around the edges of swamps 

 or in rather moist fields, from Me. to Minn, and 

 southwards to the Gulf of Mexico. Both this species 

 and the last have a long period of bloom; we may 

 find their flowers from June until September. 



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