78 XIV. POLYGALE^. [Pohmla. 



Perennial. Style with 2 stigmatie lobes, one above the other. Seeds 



obovate, shortly villous 1- -P- japomca. 



Annuals. Seeds oblong villous, the hairs much longer at the end furthest 

 from the hilum. 

 Eaeemes long, terminal. Inner sepals petaloid, obtuse. Crest fringed. 



Stigma simple, terminal, capitate . ... 2. P. leptalea. 



Kaceraes terminal and extra-axillary. Pedicels curved 3. P. persicarimfolia. 



Eaeemes lateral. Inner sepals herbaceous, mucronate, usually falcate. 

 Crest fringed. Style with 1 large hooked or reflexed stigmatie lobe. 

 Eaeemes shorter than the leaves, or if longer, very dense. Leaves 

 from obovate to linear. 



Capsules broadly winged and ciliate 4. P. rhinanthoides. 



Capsules wingless and glabrous or nearly so .... ... 5. P. arvensis. 



1. F. japonica (Japanese), Houtt. Syst. 8, t. 62,/. 1, according to DC. Prod. 

 i. 824 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 139. Eootstock perennial, often woody with age, 

 emitting numerous rather slender leafy stems, decumbent or erect, rarely more 

 than 6in. long, more or less pubescent. Leaves nearly sessile, the lower ones 

 ovate, obtuse and small, the upper ones elliptical or lanceolate, acute, |^ to f or 

 rarely lin. long, of a rather firm consistence, glabrous and almost shining, 

 distinctly veined. Racemes lateral, sometimes of 2 or 3 flowers only, and shorter 

 than the leaves, sometimes 6 to 8-flOwered and longer. Bracts small and 

 deciduous, but less so than in most species. Outer sepals narrow-lanceolate; 

 inner ones ovate, obtuse, 2 to 3 lines long and not oblique. Keel-petal crested. 

 Ovary glabrous. Style thickened, incurved, with 2 uiiequal stigmatie lobes, the 

 upper one arching over the lower short one. Capsule about 3 lines long and 

 broad, including the rather broad wing. Seeds obovate, slightly pubescent, with 

 a 3-lob6d caruncle. — P. veronicea, F. v. M. PI. Vict. i. 184. 



Hab.: Dawson, Brisbane, and Condamine Elvers. 



Also in the hilly regions of tropical Asia and northward to Japan. I can, indeed, find no 

 difference between the Australian and the Japanese specimens, except that the flowers in the 

 latter are rather larger ; but several Khasia specimens are precisely like the Australian ones. 

 P. elegans. Wall., from East India and China, differs slightly in the racemes most frequently 

 terminal with numerous flowers. — Benth. 



2. P. leptalea (weak plant), DC. Prod. i. 825 ; Benth. Fl. Amtr. i. 139. 

 An erect, glabrous, slender annual, simple or slightly branched, usually 1 to l^ft. 

 high. Leaves few, linear, the longer ones about lin., the uppermost much 

 smaller, and the lower ones sometimes shortly oblong. Flowers small, 

 numerous, pendulous, in a 1-sided terminal raceme, on pedicels which rarely 

 attain 1 line. Outer sepals narrow-oblong, obtuse, the lowest rather larger and 

 concave ; inner sepals nearly twice as large, petal-like, broadly oblong, obtuse, 

 2 to 2^ lines long. Keel-petal crested. Style scarcely thickened, much curved, 

 inflexed at the summit with an entire capitate stigma. Capsule broadly oblong, 

 rather shorter than the inner sepals, with a narrow transparent wing. Seeds 

 hirsute with reflexed hairs, the caruncle very small. — P. oligophylla, DC. Prod. 

 i. 325. 



Hab.: Endeavour and Gilbert Elvers ; also Eockingham Bay. 

 Frequent in northern and eastern India. 



3. P. persicariaefolia (Persicaria-leaved), DC. HooL in FL of Brit. Ind. 

 i. 202. An erect or ascending slightly pubescent very much branched slender 

 herb, 6 to 16in. high. Leaves linear or elliptic-lanceolate, flaccid, hardly 

 petiolate. Racemes terminal and extra-axillary, slender, 1 to 2in. long, lax- 

 flowered. Pedicels slender, curved. Bracts small, subulate. Wings broad- 

 obovate, rather longer than the elliptic notched ciliate capsul^. S^ed? villous, 

 Strophiole small, galeate. 



Hab,: Tropical parts of the colony. 



