POLYGALA. XVI. POLYGALACE^. 173 



P. GRAVESLENS. Raf. (Cleome dodecandria. Michx.) 

 Viscid-pubescent ; Ivs. ternate ; Ifts. elliptic-oblong ; fls. axillary, solitary ; 

 sta. 8 12 ; capsule oblong, lanceolate, attenuate at base. A strong-scented plant, 

 found on gravely shores ! Vt. to Ark. Stem If high, branching, striate. Leaf- 

 lets 1 l' long, as wide, nearly entire and sessile ; common petiole 1' long. 

 Flowers in terminal racemes. Petals yellowish- white, narrowed below into 

 long claws. Filaments slender, exserted. Pods 2' long, glandular-pubescent, 

 siliquose, viscid like every other part of the plant. Jl. 



ORDER XV. RESEDACEJE. MIGNIONETTES. 



Herbs with alternate, entire or pinnate leaves. Slip, minute, gland-like. 



Fls. in racemes or spikes, small and often fragrant. 



CaL Sepals somewhat united at base, unequal, green. 



Cor. Petals lacerated, unequal. 



Sta. 8 '20. inserted on the disk. Torus hypogynous, one-sided, glandular. 



Ova. sessile, 3-lobed, 1-celled, many-seeded. Placenta 3, parietal. 



Fr. a capsule, l-celled, opening between the stigmas before maturity. 



Genera 6, species 41, inhabiting the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, having no very remarkable 

 properties. Reseda Luteola contains a yellow coloring matter, and other species are very fragrant. 



RESEDA. 



Lat. reseda, to calm ; the plants are said to relieve pain. 



Sepals many, petals of an equal number, each bearing one or more 

 stamens ; torus large, fleshy, bearing the ovary, with several stamens 

 and styles. 



1. R. LUTEOLA. Dyer's Weed. 



Lvs. lanceolate, entire, with a tooth on each side at base ; col. 4-cleft. 

 Nearly naturalized in Western N. Y. Stem about 2f high. The flowers are 

 without petals, arranged in a long spike, which, as Linnaeus observes, follows 

 the course of the sun, inclining east, south and west by day, and north by 

 night. It affords a useful yellow dye, also the paint called Dutch-pink. 



2. R. ODORATA. Mignionette. Lvs. entire, 3-lobed ; sep. shorter than the pe- 

 tals. A well known and universal favorite of the garden, native of Egypt. 

 The flowers are highly fragrant and no boquet should be considered complete 

 without them. The variety frutescens is by a peculiar training raised to the 

 height of 2 feet with the form of a tree. The species phyteuma, native of Pales- 

 tine, has a calyx longer than the petals. 



ORDER XVI. POLYG-ALACEJE. MILKWORTS. 



Plants herbaceous or shrubby, sometimes twining. 



Lvs. alternate, or rarely opposite, mostly simple, always without stipules. 



Fls. perfect, unsymrnetrical. Pedicels with 3 bracts. 



CaL Sepals 5, very irregular, 3 exterior, 2 interior (wings) larger and petaloid. 



Cor. Petals 3, hypogynous, the anterior (keel) larger than the others. [the claws of the petals. 



Sta. 6 8. Fil. combined in a tube which is split on the upper side, and coherent to some extent with 



Ova. superior, compressed, 2-celled, one cell often abortive. Sty. curved and often cucullate. 



Fr. loculicidal or iridehiscent. Sds. pendulous. 



Genera 19, species 495, very equally distributed, each division of the globe having two or three genera 

 peculiar to it. The properties of the Polygalaceee have not been well determined. Some of the genera 

 possess a bitter matter and a milky juice which is emetic, expectorant and diuretic. Polygala is the only 

 northern genus. 



POLYGALA. Tourn. 



Gr. TToXv, much, yaXa, milk, said to favor the lacteal secretions of animals. 



Sepals 5, persistent, 2 of them wing-shaped and petaloid ; petals 

 3, cohering by their claws to the filaments, lower one carinate ; cap- 

 sule obcordate, 2-celled, 2-valved, 2-seeded; seeds carunculate. The 

 N. American species herbaceous. Lower petal (keel] mostly tipped with 

 a crest. 



* Spikes ovate, globose or oblong, dense, obtuse. 

 1. P. SANGUINEA. (P. purpurea. Nutt.'} Caducous Polygala. 

 St. branching at top ; Ivs. linear, alternate ; fls. beardless, in alternate, ob- 



