POLYGALACE^E. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 84. 



POLYGALA. 



Sepals 5, persistent, the alae large and petaloid. Petals 3 ; 

 their claws all united with the staminiferous tube, the lower one 

 (carina) keel-shaped, the two additional ones abortive. Stamens 

 united into a tube at the base, which is cleft in front : anthers 

 opening by a pore. Ovary 2-celled : ovules solitary, pendulous 

 from the apex of the cell. Capsule 2-locular, loculicidal, com- 

 pressed. Seeds pendulous from the apex of the cells, pube- 

 scent, with a carunculate arillus at the hilum : albumen abundant, 

 fleshy. Shrubs or herbaceous plants. Flowers arranged in ter- 

 minal or axillary racemes. W. and A. 



247. P. Senega Linn. sp. pi. 990. Woodville med. bot. 

 ii. t. 93. Bot. Mag. t. 1051. Bigelow med. bot. ii. t. 30. 

 N. and E. pi. med. t. 412. S. and C. ii. t. 103. Moun- 

 tainous parts of the United States, where it is called " Seneca 

 snake root." 



Root perennial, firm, hard, branching, consisting of a moderately 

 solid wood, and a thick bark ; it sends up a number of annual stems, 

 which are simple, smooth, occasionally tinged with red. Leaves alter- 

 nate, nearly or quite sessile, lanceolate, with a sharpish point, smooth, 

 paler underneath. Flowers white, in a close terminal spike. Sepals 5, 

 the two largest, or wings, roundish-ovate, white, and slightly veined. 

 Corolla small, closed, having 2 obtuse lateral segments, and a short- 

 crested extremity. Capsule obcordate, invested by the persistent 

 calyx, compressed, 2-celled, 2-valved. Seeds 2, oblong-obovate, acute at 

 one end, slightly hairy, curved, blackish, with a longitudinal, bifid, 

 white strophiola on the concave side. The spike opens slowly, so that 

 the lower flowers are in fruit while the upper ones are in blossom. 

 Root unpleasant, somewhat acid and acrid. It acts as a sudorific and 

 expectorant in small doses, and as an emetic and cathartic in large ones. 

 Employed in pneumonia, asthma, croup, dropsy, chronic rheumatism, 

 and especially in such uterine complaints as amenorrhaea. Dr. Archer 

 has extravagantly praised it in Cynanche trachealis. 



248. P. caracasana HBK. has a root with a taste similar to 

 that of P. Senega, but not altogether equal to it. Linncea 

 v. 230. 



249. P. uliginosa Rchb.pl. crit. i. t.40. 41. fl. excurs. i. 350. 



N. and E. pi. med. t. 411 P. amara Bot. mag. t. 2437. 



not Jacq. according'to Rchb. Moors and mountains in various 

 parts of Germany. 

 125 



