52 



XL POLYGALACE^. 



Caps, compressed. Seeds downy, crested at the hihm, ^ 

 Name, ttoXv, much^ and ya\a^ milk^ from some fancied property 

 in the plant. 



r 

 r ^ 



1. P. vulgaris L. (common M,); perennial, keel crested 

 flowers in a terminal raceme, wings of the calyx ovate or oblono*' 

 their nerves branched the lateral ones anastomosing with^a 

 branch of the central nerve, capsule glabrous sessile obcordate 

 seed with the lobes of the arillodium unequal, stems herbaceous 

 often branched at the base, branches simple procumbent or 

 ascending, leaves on the branches linear or oblong. — a. leaves 

 scattered, lower ones smaller oblong, wings of the calyx obo- 

 vate mucronate. E. B. t, 76. P. oxyptera Reich.: E. B. S, 

 t. 2827. P. depressa Wendl. — /8. lower leaves chiefly in an iri 

 regular tuft obovate obtuse, wings of the calyx oblon*^. P. cal- 

 carea Schultz. P. amara Don in E. B. S. t. 2764. 



Dry hilly pastures, frequent. %. 5 — 9. — Stems often very short, 

 with crowded alternate or opposite, obovate or oblong, obtuse leaves 

 branched or simple : branches 4 — 8 inches long, being a mere con- 

 tinuation of the stem when this is simple, often springing from the 

 root. Cor, beautifully crested, blue, purple, pink, or white. Sepals 

 persistent, the two longer ones enclosing the fruit and usually twice 

 as long, S-nerved, the veins arising from the two lateral nerves either 

 anastomosing with each other or with the upper vein of the central 

 nerve. After carefully comparing specimens of the plants here 

 referred to with Mr. Babington's observations in the Jnn, N. H, April 

 1853, p. 270, we cannot come to the conclusion that they are specifi- 

 cally distinct, or can be at all times distinguished as permanant forms. 



2. P. austinaca Crantz (Austrian M.) ; perennial, keel crested, 

 flowers in a terminal raceme, " wings of the calyx oblonj? or 

 obovate obtuse, their nerves simple or slightly branched free, 

 capsule wedge-shaped below roundish broader than the wino-s, 

 seed with the lobes of the arillodium nearly equal," stems 

 herbaceous "leaves in a rosette obovate obtuse." — a. leaves of 

 the rosette larger than those of the branching flower-shoot, 

 flowers smaller, capsule rounded below.—/?, leaves of the rosette 

 larger than those of the nearly constantly simple flower-shoot, 

 flowers larger, capsule wedge-shaped. P. uliginosa Reich. R 

 myrtifolia Fries. 



P. Back of Cronkley Fell, Yorkshire; Messrs. Backhouse. 4, 5. 

 The few specimens we have seen of the var. jS. (the only one yet dis- 

 covered in Britain) do not enable us to form a satisfactory character : 

 we therefore avail ourselves of those given by Mr. Babington, in the 

 paper referred to under last species. The var. a. is what we alluded to 

 ia our former edition as P. amara of most continental botanists. 





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