POLYGALACE^E. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 121 



2. Annuals, with all the leaves alternate : flowers in spikes, heads, or racemes termi- 

 nating the stem or branches, purple or rose-color^ in summer : none subterranean. 



* Corolla conspicuously crested on the keel: the claws of the true petals united into a 



long and slender cleft tube much surpassing the wings. 



3. P. incarnata, L. Glaucous ; stem slender, sparingly branched ; leaves 

 minute and linear-awl-shaped ; spike cylindrical; flowers flesh-color; caruncle 

 longer than the narrow stalk of the hairy seed. Dry soil, Penn. to Wisconsin 

 and southward ; rather rare. 



* * Corolla minutely or inconspicuously crested ; the true petals not longer but mostly 



shorter than the wings : seed pear-shaped. 



4. P. sanguinea, L. Stem sparingly branched above, leafy to the top ; 

 leaves oblong-linear; heads globular, at length oblong, very dense (4" -5" thick), 

 bright red-purple (rarely paler or even white) ; pedicels scarcely any ; wings 

 broadly ovate, closely sessile, longer than the pod ; the 2-parted caruncle almost 

 equalling the seed. Sandy and moist ground : common. 



5. P. fastigiata, Nutt. Stem slender, at length corymbosely branched ; 

 leaves narrowly linear, small ; spikes short and dense (3" in diameter) ; the small 

 rose-purple flowers on pedicels of about the length of the pod; wings obovate- or 

 oval^oblong, narrowed at the base, scarcely exceeding the pod ; bracts deciduous 

 with the flowers or fruits ; caruncle as long as and nearly enveloping the stalk- 

 like base of the minutely hairy seed. (P. sanguinea, Torr. fr Gr., excl. syn. ; 

 not of Nutt., nor L.) Pine barrens of New Jersey (Nuttall) and Delaware 

 to Kentucky and southward. 



6. P. Nuttallii, Torr. & Gr. (Fl. I, p. 670, excl. syn. & descr.) Resembles 

 the last, but usually lower ; spikes more cylindrical ; flowers duller or greenish 

 purple, on shorter pedicels ; the awl-shaped scaly bracts persistent on the axis after 

 the flowers or fruits fall ; seed very hairy, the caruncle smaller. (P. sanguinea, 

 Nutt., not of L. P. Mariana, &c., Pluk. t. 437. P. ambigua, Torr. fr Gr. FL, 

 not of Nutt.) Dry sandy soil, coast of Massachusetts to Kentucky and south- 

 ward. Spike sometimes rather loose. 



7. P. Curtissii, n. sp. Slender (9' high) ; leaves, &c., as in the two pre- 

 ceding ; flowers rose-purple, in elongated and loose racemes ; the ascending pedicels 

 and the narrow oblong erect wings fully twice the length of the pod; bracts persistent, 

 those of the lower and remoter flowers foliaceous ; caruncle small, on one side 

 of the stalk-like base of the very hairy seed, which is conspicuously apiculate at 

 the broader end. Near Alexandria, Virginia, A. H. Curtiss. Most related to 

 P. Chapmanii of Florida. 



3. Annuals with at least the lower stem-leaves whorled in fours, sometimes in Jives : 

 spikes terminating the stem and branches ; fl. summer and autumn. 



* Spikes short and thick (4" - 9" in diameter ; the axis rough with the squarrose bracts 



persisting after the fall of the (middle-sized) rose or greenish purple flowers : crest 

 of the keel small. 



8. P. cruciata, L. Stems (3'-10' high) almost winged at the angles, 

 with spreading opposite branches ; leaves nearly all in fours, linear and some- 

 what spatulate or oblanceolate ; spikes sessile or nearly so, wings broadly deltoid- 

 ovate, slightly heart-shaped, tapering to a bristly point, or rarely pointless ; caruncle 



