POLYGALACEAE (MILKWOET FAMILY) 539 



Woods, in light soil, e. Que. to Man., s. to Ga., 111., and Minn. May, June. 

 A delicate plant, its handsome flowers 1.8 cm. long, rarely white. 



2. P. polygama Walt. Stems numerous from the biennial root, mostly 

 simple, ascending, very leafy, 1.5-2.5 dm. high; leaves oblanceolate or oblong ; 

 terminal raceme loosely many-flowered, the broadly obovate wings longer than 

 the keel ; stamens 8 ; radical flowers racemed on short subterranean runners ; 

 lobes of the caruncle 2, scale-like, shorter than the seed. Dry sandy soil, 

 N. S., westw. and south w. July. 



t- 4- Flowers white, in a solitary close spike ; none cleistogamous. 



3. P. Senega L. (SENECA SNAKEROOT.) Stems several from thick and 

 hard knotty rootstocks, simple, 1.5-3 dm. high ; leaves lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, with rough margins ; wings round-obovate, concave ; crest short ; 

 caruncle nearly as long as the seed. Rocky soil, N. B. to Hudson Bay, Alberta, 

 and south w. May- July. 



Var. latifblia T. & G. Taller, sometimes branched ; leaves ovate or lanceo- 

 late, 5-10 cm. long, tapering to each end. Md. to L. Huron, Dak., and Tenn. 



* * Annuals, with all the leaves alternate ; flowers in terminal spikes, heads, or 



racemes, chiefly purple or rose-color, in summer ; none subterranean. 



4- Keel conspicuously crested ; claws of the true petals united into a long and 



slender cleft tube much surpassing the wings. 



4. 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, N. J. to s. Ont., 

 Wise., Neb., and southw., rather rare. 



4- - Keel minutely or inconspicuously crested; the true petals not longer but 

 mostly shorter than the wings ; seed pear-shaped. 



5. P. sangulnea L. Stem sparingly branched above, leafy to the top ; 

 leaves oblong-linear' heads globular, at length oblong, very dense (8-10 mm. 

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

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

 almost equaling the seed. (P. viridescens L.) Sandy and moist ground; 

 common, N. E., westw. and southw. 



6. P. mariana Mill. Stem slender, at length corymbosely branched ; leaves 

 narrowly linear, acute, 6-16 mm. long ; spikes short and dense (6 mm. in diam- 

 eter); 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. fastigiata Nutt.) 

 Pine barrens of N. J. to Ky., Fla., and Tex. 



7. P. Nuttallii T. & G. Resembling the last, but usually lower; spikes 

 cylindrical, slender ; flowers duller or greenish-purple, on very short pedicels; 

 the awl-shaped scaly bracts persistent on the axis after the flowers or fruits fall ; 

 seed very hairy, the caruncle smaller. Dry sandy soil, coast of Mass, to Del., 

 Md., and southw. Spike sometimes rather loose. 



8. P. Curtissii Gray. Slender, 2.5 dm. high; leaves, etc., as in the two 

 preceding ; flowers rose-purple, in usually short racemes ; pedicels about equal- 

 ing or exceeding the persistent bracts ; the narrow oblong erect wings fully twice 

 the length of the pod; caruncle small, on one side of the stalk-like base of 

 the very hairy seed, which is conspicuously apiculate at the broader end. Md. 

 to Ky., Ga., and Ala. Founded upon an abnormal form with elongated 

 racemes and pedicels. 



* * * Annuals with at least the lower stem-leaves whorled in fours or fives; 



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



- Spikes short and thick (8-18 mm. in diameter} ; bracts persisting after the 



fall of the middle-sized rose- or greenish-purple flowers ; crest small. 



9. P. cruciata L. Stems 1-2.5 dm. high, almost winged at the angles, 

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



