82 POLYGALACEJE. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 



1. BYRSONIMA, Rich. 



Calyx with 10 glands at the base without. Petals 5. Stamens monadelphous 

 at the base. Styles 3. Fruit drupaceous, 3-celled, 3-seeded. Racemes termi- 

 nal, simple or branched. 



1. B. lucida, Rich. Smooth; stem much-branched; leaves coriaceous, 

 wedge-obovate, obtuse, entire, short-petioled, shining above, paler beneath, vein- 

 less ; racemes erect, bracted, simple, twice the length of the leaves ; pedicels 

 slender, spreading ; petals yellow, orbicular-cordate, wavy, long-clawed ; drupe 

 smooth, globose. South Florida. A small shrub. Leaves 1' long. Drupe 

 as large as a grain of pepper. 



ORDER 45. POLYGALACE^E. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with entire exstipulate leaves, and irregular hypogy- 

 nous monadelphous or diadelphous flowers. Anthers 1 -celled, opening 

 by a terminal pore. Ovary 2-celled, with a single anatropous pendulous 

 ovule in each cell. Seeds often carunculate. Embryo straight in scanty 

 albumen. Radicle superior. 



1. POLYGALA, L. MILKWORT. 



Sepals 5, persistent, unequal ; the two lateral ones (wings) larger and petal-like. 

 Petals 3, more or less united ; the middle one (keel) larger, and usually crested at 

 the apex. Stamens 8, rarely 6, united into a tube, or into two equal sets, and 

 also with the claws of the petals. Style curved, clavate. Stigma terminal or 

 lateral. Capsule 2-celled, 2-seeded. Seeds suspended, carunculate. Chiefly 

 herbs. Leaves alternate or whorled. Flowers in terminal spikes or racemes, 

 rarely axillary, or radical and imperfect 



1. Flowers in globose or oblong more or less compact spikes. 

 * Spikes corymbose : biennials. 



1. P. cymosa, Walt. Stem tall, simple ; leaves scattered, linear, acute, 

 the upper bract-like, the lowest long (6' -9') and crowded; corymbs simple 

 or compound ; wings oblong, abruptly acute ; seeds minute, globose-obovate, 

 smooth ; caruncle none. (P. corymbosa, Ell. P. acutifolia, Torr. fr Gray. P. 

 graminifolia, Poir. P. attenuata, Nutt.) Pine barren ponds, Florida to North 

 Carolina, and westward. July. Stems 2 - 4 high. Corymbs very large and 

 compound, or small and simple. Flowers yellow, turning dark green in drying. 

 Plant yellowish. 



2. P. ramosa, Ell. Stem low, simple, or branching and leafy from the 

 base to the summit ; leaves fleshy, lanceolate, acute, scattered, the lowest spatu- 

 late-obovate, obtuse, crowded ; corymbs compound, fastigiate ; wings ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate ; lobes of the caruncle small, roundish, embracing the 

 base of the minute oval hairy seed. (P. corymbosa, Nutt. P. cymosa, Poir.) 

 Low open pine barrens, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. July- Septem- 

 ber. Stems 6' - 12' high. Flowers yellow, turning green in drying. 



