FOLYGALA FAMILY. 93 



- leaves all alternate, narrow. 



P. incarnata. From Perm. W. & S. ; stem slender, 6' - 12' high ; leaves 

 minute and awl-shaped ; the three united petals extended below into a long and 

 slender tube, the crest of the middle one conspicuous. 



P. sanguinea. Sandy damp ground : stem 4' - 8' high, leafy to the top ; 

 leaves oblong-linear ; flowers bright rose-purple (sometimes pale or even white), 

 in a thick globular at length oblong head or spike, without pedicels. 



P. fastigiata. Pine-barrens from New Jersey S. ; slender, 4' - 10' high, 

 with smaller narrow-linear leaves, and oblong dense spike of smaller rose-purple 

 flowers, on pedicels as long as the pod ; bracts falling off. 



P. Nuttallii. Sandy soil, from coast of Mass. S. ; lower than the fore- 

 going ; flowers rather looser in more cylindrical spikes, greenish-purple ; awl- 

 shaped bracts remaining on the axis after the flowers or fruits have fallen. 

 -i- -- Leaves all or all the lower ones in whorls of four. 



P. cruciata. Low grounds : stems 3' - 10' high, 4-angled, and with spread- 

 ing branches ; leaves linear or spatulate, mostly in fours ; spike thick and short, 

 nearly sessile, its axis rough with persistent bracts where the flowers have fallen ; 

 wings of the flower broad-ovate or heart-shaped, bristly-pointed. 



P. brevifdlia. Sandy bogs from Rhode Island' S. : differs from the last 

 only in more slender stems, narrower leaves, those on the branches alternate, 

 the" spike stalked, and wings of the flower lance-ovate and nearly pointless. 



# # # Flowers (all summer] greenish-white or scarcely tinged with purple, very 



small, in slender spikes, none subterranean: 'leaves linear, the lower in 

 whorls of four or Jive. 



P. verticillata. Very common in dry sterile soil; stem 5' -10' high, 

 much branched ; all the leaves of the main stem whorled. 



P. ambigua. In similar places and very like the last, chiefly S. & W., 

 more slender ; only the lowest leaves whorled ; flowers more scattered and often 

 purplish-tinged, in long-pcduncled spikes. 



# # # * Flowers white, small (in late spring) in a close spike terminating simple 



tujled steins which rise from a perennial root, none subterranean: leaves 

 numerous, all alternate. %. 



P. Senega, SENECA SNAKEROOT. A medicinal plant, commoner W., 

 5'- 12' high, with lanceolate or oblong, or even lance-ovate short leaves, cylin- 

 drical spike, round-obovate wings, and small crest. 



P. alba. Common only far W. & S. W. ; more slender than the last, with 

 narrow-linear leaves, more tapering long-peduncled spike, and oval wings. 



***** Flowers rose-purple in a raceme, or single, largish : leaves alternate. 



P. grandifldra. Dry soil S. ; pubescent, with branching stems 1 high, 

 lanceolate leaves, crestless flowers scattered in a loose raceme (in late summer), 

 bright purple turning greenish. ^ 



P. polygama. Sandy barrens, with tufted and very leafy stems 5' -8' 

 high, linear-oblong or oblanceolate leaves, and many-flowered racemes of hand- 

 some rose-purple flowers, their crest conspicuous ; also on short underground 

 runners are some whitish very fertile flowers with no evident corolla. PI. all 

 summer. (?) 



P. paucifdlia, FRINGED POLYGALA, sometimes called FLOWERING WIN- 

 TERGREEN. Light soil in woods, chiefly N. : a delicate little plant, with stems 

 3' - 4' high, rising from long and slender runners or subterranean shoots, on 

 which are concealed inconspicuous fertile flowers ; leaves few and crowded at 

 the summit, ovate, petioled, some of them with a slender-pedunclcd showy 

 flower from the axil, of delicate rose-red color (rarely a white variety), almost an 

 inch long, with a conspicuous fringed crest and only 6 stamens ; in spring. 11 



2. Shrubby species of the conservatory, from the Cape of Good Hope. 



P. oppositifdlia, with opposite sessile heart-shaped and mucronate leaves, 

 of a pale hue, and large and showy purple flowers, with a tufted crest. 



P. myrtif61ia, has crowded'alternate obiong or obovate leaves, on short 

 petioles, and showy purple flowers 1 ' long, with a tufted crest. 



