Magenta to Pink 



clear — but because feeding on them is supposed to increase the 

 flow of cattle's milk. 



In sandy swamps, especially near the coast from Maine to 

 the Gulf, and westward to the Mississippi, grows the Marsh or 

 Cross-leaved Milkwort {P. criiciata). Most of its leaves, espe- 

 cially the lower ones, are in whorls of four, and from July to 

 September its dense, bright purple-pink, white, or greenish llower- 

 heads, the wings awn-pointed, are seated on the ends of the 

 square branching stem of this low, mossy little plant. 



Fringed Milkwort or Polygala; Flowering Win- 

 tergreen ; Gay Wings 



{Polygala paucifolia) Milkwort family 



Flowers — Purplish rose, rarely white, showy, over Y^ in. long, 

 from I to 4 on short, slender peduncles from among upper 

 leaves. Calyx of s unequal sepals, of which 2 are wing-like 

 and highly colored like petals. Corolla irregular, its crest 

 finely fringed; 6 stamens; i pistil. Also pale, pouch-like, 

 cleistogamous flowers underground. Stem : Prostrate, 6 to 

 IS in. long, slender, from creeping rootstock, sending up 

 flowering shoots 4 to 7 in. high. Leaves : Clustered at sum- 

 mit, oblong, or pointed egg-shaped, i^-s in. long or less ; 

 those on lower part of shoots scale-like. 



Preferred Habitat — Moist, rich woods, pine lands, light soil. 



Flowering Season — May — ^J uly . 



Distribution — Northern Canada, southward and westward to 

 Georgia and Illinois. 



Gay companies of these charming, bright little blossoms hid- 

 den away in the woods suggest a swarm of tiny mauve butter- 

 flies that have settled among the wintergreen leaves. Unlike 

 the common milkwort and many of its kin that grow in clover- 

 like heads, each one of the gay wings has beauty enough to stand 

 alone. Its oddity of structure, its lovely color and enticing fringe, 

 lead one to suspect it of extraordinary desire to woo some insect 

 that will carry its pollen from blossom to blossom and so enable 

 the plant to produce cross-fertilized seed to counteract the evil 

 tendencies resulting from the more prolific self-fertilized cleis- 

 togamous flowers buried in the ground below. It has been said 

 that the fringed polygala keeps "one flower for beauty and one 

 for use"; "one playful flower for the world, another for serious 

 use and posterity" ; but surely the showy flowers, the "giddy 

 sisters," borne by all cleistogamous species to save them from 

 degenerating through close inbreeding, are no idle, irresponsible 



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