Polij(jala. POLYGALACE.E. 455 



lines long and a line or line and a half broad : slender long-peduncled spikes of small white 

 flowers very tapering, 1 to 2 Indies long: capsule smaller than in the related species, at 

 full maturity scanely a line in length, two thirds as broatl : small cylindrical approssed- 

 hairy seed witli hilohed caruncle half its length ; the lohes not imbricated. — Monogr. Polvg. 

 140," t. 20, f. 19, 20. l\ IJuij/cinii, var. s/<(//s//o/,</, Wheelock, 1. c. 121. — Ciral soil, riuij-.e 

 Key, S. Florida, Vurtiss, no. 503* ; H. early spring. Amply distinct from /'. Boijkini in its 

 capsule as well as smaller leaves and scojiarious habit, 



c. Species of western range : capsule short-oblong. 

 P. alba, Nltt. Hoot single, of doubtful periiaps varying duration : .stems erect, 8 to 20 

 inches in height, leafy up to or .somewhat above the middle, terminating in slender naked 

 peduncles : leaves all alternate, or the lowest verticillate, narrow, oblong to linear, half inch 

 to inch in length, a line in breadth; the lowest ones liroader, spatulate, obtuse, the others 

 acute: spikes 1 to 3 inches hmg, at fir.st very <len.<e : Howers white: wings ovate, narrowed 

 at base, exceeding the capsule: 2-lobed caruncle about half the length of the oblong dark- 

 colored appres.sed-villous seed. — Gen. ii. 87 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 1.'51 ; (Jray, I'l. Fendl. 30, 

 PI. Wright, i. 38, & ii. 30 (excl. Sonoran plants); Wheelock, I.e. 136; Cho<lat, I.e. 135, 

 t. 20, f. 13, 14. — Plains, Louisiana to Dakota and westward to Washington and Arizona. 

 (Mex.) Common and at the Southwest somewhat variable. 



Var. SUSpecta, Watson. Lower in stature, with more slender perhaps annual root 

 anil decumbent stems : all of the leaves or at least the lower and middle cauline verticillate, 

 oblong-lanceolate : Howers (sometimes erubescent), fruit, and seed essentially as in the typ- 

 ical form. — Proc. Am. Acad. xxi. 416. P. alba, form, Gray, PI. Wright, ii. .30, as to 

 Sonoran plants. P. alba, var. Schaffneri, Chodat, 1. c. 137. — Mountains of Arizona, Lem- 

 mon, Wilcox. (Common in Mex., where coll. by Seemann, Gregfj, Wriijht, Schaffner, Parry 

 & Palmer.) Very closely related if not identical is P. bicotor, IIBK. Nov. Gen. & Spec. v. 

 394, t. 507, regarded both by Gray and by Chodat as a low variety of P. alba. The North- 

 ern Mexican P. subalata, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xxvi. 132, of identical habit, appears to 

 differ only in seed-characters of doubtful constancy. 



++ ++ Strictly annual (except P. setacea) : root slender, simple or branched ami perpendicu- 

 lar, or of slender fascicled fibres, neither ligneous nor thickened: stem single at base 

 (rarely 2 or 3 in the leafless P. setacea), erect, sometimes branching from the lower inter- 

 nodes but not from a caudex. 



= Leaves all alternate : petals united into a slender tube more than twice the length of the 

 spatulate wings. 

 P. incarnata, L. Tall slender flexuous smooth and glaucescent annual, simple or few- 

 branched : stems angled, often almost naked : leaves narrow, linear, acute, erect, seldom 

 over half inch long, sometimes much reduced : spikes terminating the axis and elongated 

 branches, cylindric, rather dense : tubular corollas roseate, spreading from near the summit, 

 2 lines or more in length, conspicuously crested : fruit .soon exposed. — Spec. ii. 701 ; Hill, 

 Veg. Syst. xxii. t. 51, f. 1 ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 84; Chapm. Fl. 84; Gray. Man. ed. 1-6; 

 Wheelock, 1. c. 124 ; Chodat, 1. c. 189, t. 22, f. 10-18. —Dry thin .soil, oak and pine barrens, 

 also on prairies, New Jersey to S. Ontario, Dodge, ace. to J. M. Macoun, Wisconsin, Indian 

 Territory, Bush, and southward to Florida and Texas ; fl., ace. to situation, from April to 

 September. The var. 3 of Torr. & Gray (Fl. i. 129 ; P. paniculnta, LeConte, not L.) coll. 

 in Georgia by LeConte, and described a.s paniculately branched, almost leafless, and with 

 corolla-tube little exceeding the wings, is obscure, perhaps not of this species. 

 = = Leaves all alternate: wings exceeding the corolla: root a fa.scicle of numerous slender 

 fibres : racemes elongated very slender and loosely flowered : species of the Southwest. 



P. paludosa, St.Hil. Very slender, glabrous, 1 to 2 feet high, simple below, mostly 

 branched above ; the branches few, erect : leaves narrowly linear, very acnte, erect : small 

 pale or rose-purple flowers at length nodding on very short filiform pedicels in the slender 

 soon loosely flowered attenuate spicate r.-xcemes : elliptic-obovate cuneate-b.a.sed wings and 

 short-oblong fruit about three fourths line in length ; seed pubescent and provided with a 

 small bilobod caruncle about one eighth of its length. — Fl. Bras. Merid. ii. 8, excl. vars in 

 part ; Chodat, 1. c. 226, t. 24, f. 4, 5. P. leplocaulis, Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 130; Wheelock, 1. c. 



