278 A FLORA OP MANILA 



1. T. australasiae Rich. Bagnit (Tag.)> 



A glabrous, scandent, woody vine several meters in length. Leaves 

 oblong-ovate, acute, base rounded, 5. to 14 cm long, the petioles with 

 1 or 2 glands at the apex. Racemes terminal, 5, to 15 long. Flowers 

 yellow, about 2 cm in diameter, the pedicels 1.5 to 3 cm long, opposite, 

 with 2 small bracteoles below the middle. Petals oblong or oblong-ovate, 

 base cordate, the claw slender. Fruit subglobose, about 12 mm in diam- 

 eter, the carpel-wings 6 or 7, vertically compressed, spreading and 

 recurved, linear-oblong. (Fl. Filip. pi. iS5.) 



In thickets near the seashore and along tidal streams, Tondo to Caloocan, 

 fl. most of the year; widely distributed in the Philippines along the sea- 

 shore. Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to Australia. 



74. POLYGALACEAE (Milkwort Family) 



Annual or perennial herbs, scandent shrubs, or trees. Leaves alter- 

 nate, entire, simple. Flowers perfect, irregular, 3-bracteate. Sepals 5, 

 unequal, the inner 2 often petal-like. Petals 5 or 3, distinct, unequal, the 

 lower one usually boat-shaped or keeled. Stamens 4 to 8, hypogynous, 

 the filaments united into a sheath, rarely free. Ovary free, 1- to 3-celled,' 

 ovules 1 or more in each cell. Fruit generally a 2-celled, 2rseeded capsule, 

 dehiscent or indehiscent. 



Genera 11, species about 720 of very wide distribution, 5 genera, and 

 19 species in the Philippines. 



Inner sepals larger than the outer ones and petal-like; anthers 8 



1. Polygala 

 Sepals nearly equal; anthers 4 or 5; flowers minute, in terminal spikes. 



2. Salomonia 

 1. POLYGALA Linnaeus 



Erect, simple or branched, often slender herbs, rarely under-shrubs. 

 Leaves alternate, rarely whorled, simple, entire, exstipulate. -Flowers in 

 terminal or axillary, short or elongated spikes or racemes. Sepals usually 

 persistent, unequal, the 2 inner ones large and petal-like. Petals 3, united 

 below with the staminal sheath, the lower one keel-shaped and usually 

 crested. Stamens 8, the filaments united for the lower one-half into a 

 sheath that is split down one side. Ovary 2-celled; ovules solitary. 

 Capsule 2-celled, 2-seeded, small, loculicidal. (Greek "much" and "milk," 

 the name applied by Dioscorides to a plant that wae supposed to increase 

 the secretion of milk.) 



Species more than 400 in all parts of the world, about 7 in the Philip- 

 pines. 



1. P. CHINENSIS L. 



A slender, erect, simple or sparingly branched, slightly pubescent, an- 

 nual herb 6 to 20 cm high. Leaves alternate, linear-oblong to oblong- 

 lanceolate, apex acute, apiculate, base acute, short-petioled, 1 to 3 cm long. 

 Racemes axillary, solitary, few-flowered, much shorter than the leaves. 

 Flowers horizontal or pendulous, about 5 mm long, the outer 3 sepals 

 oblong-ovate, about 1.5 mm long, the inner two as long as the corolla, 

 falcate, much longer than the compressed, oblong-ovate, retuse capsule. 



In open grass lands, near La Loma; of local occurrence in the Philip- 

 pines, undoubtedly introduced. India to China, through Malaya to tropical 

 Australia. 



