454 POLYGALACE.E. Polygala. 



its leugth : cleistogene flowers with reduced greeuisli or pale envelopes and styleless ovary. 

 — Car. 179; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 132; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Ain. i. 86, t. 29; Wheelock, 1. c. 139; 

 Chodat, 1. c. 279, t. 25, f. 36-40 (incl. formal vars. obtusata ajid macrospora) ; not DC. P. 

 rubella, Willd. Spec. iii. 875; Bigel. Med. Bot. iii. 129, t. 54. — Saudy fields and rich woods. 

 Nova Scotia to Ontario and Lake of the Woods, Dairson (ace. to Macouu), south to Florida 

 and Texas; fl. spring and summer, somewhat according to latitude. A pale-flowered form, 

 the var. pallida, Ilollick (or rather Brittou?), Bull. Torr. Club, xviii. 256, occurs in some 

 localities with the typical one. Forms with short racemes of clcistogamous flowers spring- 

 ing from the upper leaf-axils or even with the flowers of the terminal raceme reduced and 

 cleistogamous (var. aboktiva, Chodat, 1. c. 280), are occasionally found. 

 = = Flowers greenish white (persistent wings sometimes erubescent or purplish), subses- 

 sile in terminal mostly compact spikes: none cleistogene: leaves all alternate, lanceolate 

 to ovate : root becoming thickish : wings suborbicular. 

 P. Senega, L. (Skneca Snakeroot.) Root stoutish, often irregular, surmounted by a 

 compact branching caudex : stems simple or nearly so, terete, slightly puberulent, 6 to 15 

 inches in height, leafy : lowest leaves scale-like, obtuse, often erubescent ; the others lance- 

 linear to elliptic-lanceolate, 6 to 18 lines in length, a fourth as broad, with scabrous (or 

 under lens denticulate) margins: capsules thickish, broader than long; seeds black, puberu- 

 lent, somewhat pyriforra, conspicuously carunculate. — Spec. ii. 704; Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 

 1051 ; Hook. FL Bor.-Am. i. 85; Bigel. Med. Bot. ii. 97, t. 30; Gray, Gen. 111. ii. 223, t. 183 ; 

 Wheelock, 1. c. 134; Chodat, 1. c. 278, t. 25, f. 34, 35. — Open woods in rich soil, Aroostook 

 Falls, New Brunswick, Hay; Vermont, Quices ; east shore of Hudson Bay, R. Bell; the 

 Rocky Mountains of Brit. America ; and southward to N. Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkan- 

 sas ; fl. through summer. Extensively collected for officinal root and becoming scarce in 

 most localities. Certainly passing into the often strikingly different 



Var. latifolia, Torr. & Gray. Root mostly more slender: stems taller: leaves (at 

 least the upper ones) ovate, acuminate at each end, 2 or 3 inches long, an inch or even more 

 in breadth, mostly serrulate : inflorescences inclining to be laxer and capsules and seeds 

 mostly larger than in the typical form. — Fl. i. 131 ; Gray, Man. ed. 2-6; Wheelock, 1. c. 

 135. P. Senega, var. dentata, Chodat, 1. c. 279, from description, in which author neglects 

 to mention type specimens or range. — Rich woods, Pennsylvania to Georgian Bay, I^ake 

 Huron, Dickson, ace. to J. M. Macoun, westward to S. Dakota, ace. to Rydberg, and south- 

 ward to Tennessee. The more marked specimens are western, those of the Virginian 

 mountains showing transitions to the type. 



= = = Flowers (of one kind) white or roseate, in terminal tapering spikes: root not 

 thickened : leaves linear-lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, all or at least the primary ones tend- 

 ing to be verticillate. 

 a. Species of the Southern States east of the Mississippi : capsule suborbicular. 

 P. Boykini, Nctt. Glabrous, 1 to 3 feet high : stems sharply angled : lower leaves elliptic 

 or oval, obtuse, often apiculate; the upper lance-oblong, acute, all verticillate or the upper 

 scattered : spikes 1 1 to 4 inches long, gradually tapering, long-peduncled ; the nearly sessile 

 white or greenish white flowers with broad oval or suborbicular wings: capsules IJ to 2 

 lines in diameter ; seeds appre.ssed-pubescent, curved, somewhat tapering to the apex ; 

 lobes of the caruncle rather broad, often imbricated. — Jour. Acad. I'hilad. vii. 86 ; Chodat, 

 1. c. 137, t. 20, f. 15, 16. P. Bojjkinii, Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 131, 670; Wats. Proc. Am. Acad, 

 xxi. 416 ; Wheelock, 1. c. 120, excl. var. P. bicolor. Hook. Jour. Bot. i. 194 ; Torr. & Gray, 

 Fl. i. 130. P. alba, Chapm. Fl. 85, from char. — Preferring calcareous .soil, from Georgia, 

 where first coll. by Boijhin, to Florida and westward to New Orleans, where early coll. by 

 Dnunmoud : fl. ace. to conditions, from early spring to autumn. Narrow-leaved specimens 

 from Alabama, Buckley, in habit simulate P. alba, but owing to their shorter and relatively 

 broader capsules are by Dr. Watson referred to the present species. 

 b. Species of Florida : capsule elliptic-oval 

 P. prsetervisa, Chodat. Slender glabrous annual (2 feet high) with several flexuous 

 simjde or considerably branched .slightly angled scoparious stems with a few approximate 

 verticels of leaves near the base, otherwise sparingly alternate-leaved or nearly naked and 

 junciform : leaves lanceolate to linear, acutish or very acute, even the largest only 4 or 5 



