STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



P. Senega is not evergreen in its habits; it flowers in 

 May among grasses on dry uplands; it is simple, slender, 

 and not ungraceful, the leafy stem terminating in a spike 

 of greenish-white flowers. The wiry root is said to possess 

 medicinal qualities. The plant which merits our attention 

 more particularly for its beautiful flowers is P. paucifolia, 

 the beautiful fringed, or crested, Polygala. It is a small- 

 sized plant, about six to nine inches in height; the stem is 

 simple, rising from a running or creeping root-stock, often 

 furnished with subterranean imperfect leaflets and fertile 

 flowers. The smooth dark -green leaves, delicately fringed 

 with soft silky hairs tinged with a purplish hue, are per- 

 sistent through the winter. The stem of the plant is leafy, 

 the lower leaves small and bract-like, the upper ones larger 

 and clustered round the summit; from amongst these 

 appear from two to four, and sometimes as many as five, 

 elegantly winged purple-lilac flowers. The two upper 

 petals are long-ovate, the lower forming a crested keel, 

 finely tinged with deeper purple. The flowers of this 

 beautiful species are very graceful, slightly drooping from 

 among the shining leaves on thread-like pedicels. The 

 stamens are six; sepals of the calyx five; petals three. 

 Some old writers have given the name of " Fly-flower " to 

 our pretty Polygala, and truly not an inappropriate name, 

 as one might not inaptly liken the opened blossom to some 

 gay purple-winged insect ready to take its flight from the 

 bosom of the soft silky leaves that form an involucre 

 round it. 



This Flowering Wintergreen is one of our earliest Spring 

 flowers; in fine warm seasons it appears in the latter end 

 of April, continuing to bloom on till the middle of May. 

 The early flowering plants are not so tall, neither are the 

 flowers so large as those put forth later in the season. On 



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