POLYGALEyE 287 



Polygaleae 



Herbaceous plants or shrubs, with alternate, simple, 

 entire leaves, the irregular flowers either solitary or united 

 into spikes or racemes; a panicled inflorescence is rare. 

 The calyx consists of 4-5 sepals, of which the larger are 

 wing-like and coloured (petaloid); the corolla of 3-5 petals, 

 the anterior shaped like a keel, which encloses the re- 

 productive organs; there are eight stamens, in groups of 

 four. The characteristics of the typical genus are identical. 



Polygala 



Eng. : Milkwort; "Fr. : Polygale; Ger. : Krcuzblume. 



P. chamzbuxus (PI. XVI 11), or "Faux buis", is a small, 

 diminutive shrub with branched and prostrate stems, 

 partly buried in the ground, bearing a great number of 

 branches furnished, in the upper part, with thick, oblong- 

 ovate leaves, persistent through winter; flowers large, 

 pale yellow at the external divisions, darker in the centre 

 and turning at the apex to a red-brown after fertilisation. 

 Flowers through the winter in sheltered places. February- 

 May. On January 20, 1906, 1 found a plant in flower 

 on a rock facing the south at the height of 2100 m., above 

 the Thyon Alp, in Val d'Heremence, Valais. In Canton 

 Ticino and among the hills of Lombardy, the exterior of 

 the flower is of a bright carmine, which contrasts happily 

 with the vivid yellow of the centre. Grows in wooded 

 slopes and in sub-alpine regions; is also met in some few 

 parts of the Jura. 



