PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : BOTANY. 



4. LARREA NITIDA Cav. 



Shrub, 2 meters high, with distichous branches. Glutinous. Leaves 

 glabrous, unequally pinnate. Leaflets 5-8 pairs, approximate, linear- 

 oblong, obtuse. Peduncles shorter than the leaves. Carpels silky. 



Argentina and Chili, to N. Patagon. Leaves much used as fodder for 

 horses and mules near Aconcagua. "Poisonous to mules yet medicinal," 

 Reiche ; called Jarrilla. By Rio Chubut. 



Family 57. POLYGALACE.E. Milkwort Family. 



Herbs (or sometimes in the tropics woody), with alternate or opposite, 

 or whorled, stipulate leaves, and zygomorphic flowers. The two lateral 

 sepals forming large, petaloid "wings." Petals 3, united into a tube, 

 which is split dorsally, and adnate to the 8 or 6 stamens; these mon- or 

 diadelphous. Ovary 2-celled. Seeds i in each cell, generally caruncled, 

 with or without endosperm. 



Species 750, in temperate and tropical regions ; several in N., many 

 in S. and W. United States, and Mexico and the Andes. 



KEY TO THE GENERA. 



(All these are 8-staminate.) 



A. Two large lateral petaloid sepals. The dorsal pair of petals small or none. Fruit a loculi. 



cidal capsule. 



b. Capsule not cuneate. Lateral petals with the longer (ventral) carina coalescing sympetal- 

 ously, the tube being open dorsad. Seeds arillate, or with long hairs. 



I. Polygala, p. 546. 



b2. Capsule long-cuneate. Lateral petals free from the carina. Seeds non-arillate, with long 

 thick hairs. 2. Bredemeycra,^. 550. 



A2. Lateral petals wanting (or fused with the carina). Dorsal pair adnate to the staminal tube. 

 Carina free. Fruit indehiscent, a drupe or a samara. 3. Monnina,^. 551. 



i. POLYGALA Linn. 



Herbs, except in tropical climates. Flowers often in spikes, with 

 2-bracted pedicels. Petals more or less united, the lower one often 

 crested. Stamens about 8, in one or two sets. Cells of fruit i -seeded. 



Species 260, widely distributed. Brazil is headquarters. Few in Aus- 

 tralia; none reported from N. Zealand, Falklands, or Fernandez. 



