THE MILKWOBd FAMILY. 



Parnassian grass, with chaliced bloom. 



And globes nectarious, like the Earl's 



Rich coronet, beset with pearls ; 



"Whose stamens form'd with wondrous power, 



To fructify the expanded flower, 



Each after each, their anthers bend, 



And on the germen's open head, 



The fertilizing pollen shed, 



And thence withdrawing backward trace, 



Their passage to their former place." 



MILKWORT. 



The XI Order contains but one plant ; the pretty 

 MILKWORT (Polygala Vulgaris) stands alone. It 

 resembles the Fumatory Family, in some respects 

 but its seed-vessel separates it from that, and from 

 the Butterfly family also. The flowers are blue (but 

 as often white, and lilac, on a chalky soil) stems 

 branched, half reclining; from 4 to 8 inches high, 

 with small oval leaves down each side of them. 

 The flowers, (which grow down the stem, about half 

 way) have a coloured calyx of 5 sepals, the two inner, 

 wing-shaped. Petals, from three to five, combined 

 by their claws, with the filaments, which are in two 

 bundles, the lower petal is keeled, and beautifully 

 crested. 



