POLYGALACEAE (MILKWORT 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, 1.5-2.6 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 camncle 2, scale-like, shorter than the seed. — Dry sandy soil, 

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



-I- -(- 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 ; flower's in terminal spikes, heads, or 



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



t~ Keel conspicuously crested ; claim of the true jjetals 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. 



H- ■«- Keel minutely or inconspicuously crested; the true petals not longer hut 

 mostly shorter than the wings ; seed pear-shaped. 



5. P. sanguinea 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; 

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

 almost equaling the seed. (P. viridescens lu.) —Sa.ndy 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 smafler. — 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 m the two 

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

 ing or exceedino; 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.— ma. 

 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, 

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



