294 



ORDER 45. POLYGALACEJE. 



ou tho upper side. Ovary superior, compound, with suspended ovules, united styles 

 and stigmas. Fruit a 2-celled, 2-seeded pod. Seeds pendulous, furnished with a 



caruncle 



Genera 20, species .500. The germs Polygala 

 is very generally distributed. The other genera 

 are mostly limited each to a particular quarter 

 of the globe. Properties generally bitter, acrid 

 and astringent, with a milky juice in the root. 

 Khatany-root, the root of Krameria, used in 

 medicine, yields a deep red color and is used 

 to adulterate port wine. The more active 

 species of Polygala, as P. Senega, sanguinea, 

 purpurea, tc., are emetic, purgative and diu- 

 retic. 



POLYGALA, Tourn. MILKWORT. 

 (Gr. TTO/IT;^, much, yaAa, milk ; said 

 to favor the lacteal secretions of 

 animals.) Flowers very irregular. 

 Sepals 5, 2 of them wing-shaped 

 and petaloid ; petals 3, cohering 

 by their claws to the filaments, 

 lower one carinate and often crested 

 on the back ; stamens 6 or 8, fila- 

 ments united into a split tube ; an- 

 thers 1-celled ; capsule obcordate, 

 2-cclled, 2-seeded, loculicidal ; seed 

 appendaged with a various caruncle 

 at the hilum. Bitter herbs in the 

 TJ. S. and Can. (elsewhere often 

 shrubby), with simple Ivs. Fls. 



nicn.s in 2 sets and the style seen beneath the hooded /, c . / *ili i_ i. 



lower petal. 6-10, The ovary and the style. 1. Seed Oltcn OI tWO lOrmS, tuQ SUDterra- 

 of P. sanguinea with i'.s 2-lobed caruncle. 2. Seed 4. i 



of P. Nuttaiiii. nean apetalous. 



Leaves alternate. Fls.. purple, solitary, 2 to 4. Perennial 'No. 1 



Fls. purple, raccmed. many. Biennial Nos. 2, 3 



Fls. white. Spike slender. Perennial : No. 4 



Fls. purple. Spike capitate. Caruncle double Nos. 5, 7 



Caruncle appears simple. Annual.Nos. 810 



Fls. xanthic. Spikes solitary, large. Biennial Nos. 11, 12 



Spikes numerous, corymbed, small. Biennial Nos. J3, 14 



Leaves vcrticillato on the stein. Spikes acute, slender Nos. 15, 16 



Spikes obtuse, thick Nos. 17, 18 



1 P. paucifolia L. St. simple, erect,, naked below ; Ivs. ovate, acute, smooth ; 

 terminal fls. large, crested, radical ones apetalous. A email, handsome plant, 

 with a few large (10" long) purple flowers. "Woods and swamps, Brit. Am. to 

 Ga. St. 3 to 4' high, with its acuto Ivs. mostly near the top, 2 to 4 flowers above 

 them. Cal. of 5 leaves, the upper one gibbous at base. Corolla mostly purple, 

 with a purple crest on its middle lobo. Tho radical fis. are either close to tho 

 ground or subterraneous, smaller, greenish, wanting the wings of the calyx. 

 May. 



2 P. grandiflora "Walt. Ascending, pubescent^ Ivs. ovate-lanceolate to lance- 

 linear, acute ; fls. distant, pendulous after blooming, wings large, roundish, cover- 

 ing the corolla and fruit, keel as long as the wings (3"), crestless. (&? Common in 

 dry soils, S. Car., Ga., Fla. to La. A pretty plant, 9 to 12' high, remarkable for 

 its changeable flowers, rose-colored at first, soon becoming green and drooping, 

 and alone destitute of a crest, having a yellow callosity instead. Lvs. 9 to 15" 

 long, 2 to 4" wide, often nearly glabrous. May Aug. 



*3 P. polygama Walt Sis. simple, numerous, glabrous; Ivs. linear oblong, mu- 

 cronate, obtuse ; fls. racemed, short-pediceled, those of the stem winged, those 

 of the root wingless ; keel cristate. Fields and pastures, Can. to Fla. and La. 

 Sts. crowded, many from the same root, angular, smooth. Lvs. smooth, lower 



