Genus i. 



MILKWORT FAMILY. 



449 



7. Polygala ambigua Nutt. Loose- 

 spiked Milkwort. Fig. 2701. 



Polygala ambigua Nutt. Gen. 2: 89. 1818. 

 Polygala verticillata var. ambigua Wood, Bot. & 

 Flor. 80. 1870. 



Resembling the preceding species, but often 

 taller, 5'-i6' high, very slender. Lower stem- 

 leaves commonly verticillate, but the others all 

 alternate; spikes long, loose, the lower flowers 

 often quite distant ; peduncles often several 

 inches long; flowers rather larger; wings 

 purple or purplish, nearly circular in outline; 

 mature capsule hardly longer than the wings, 

 which are appressed to it ; seed hairy. 



In dry soil, Maine to New Jersey, Georgia. 

 Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri and Louisiana. 

 Apparently specifically distinct from the preceding 

 species, which it resembles. 



8. Polygala incarnata L. Pink Milkwort. 

 Fig. 2702. 



Polygala incarnata L. Sp. PI. 701. 1753. 



Annual, erect, glabrous, glaucous, very slender, i°-2° 

 high, simple, or sparingly branched. Basal leaves none; 

 stem-leaves alternate, distant, linear or subulate, sessile, 

 i"-6" long, rarely wanting; spike terminal, dense, I'-ii' 

 long, 2"-4" thick; pedicels V or less long; bracts minute 

 or none ; flowers pink or rose, s"-6" long ; corolla-tube 

 very slender, 3"-4" long, 2-5 times the length of the wings, 

 its keel prominently crested ; wings cuspidate ; seed hairy, 

 the caruncle-lobes enveloping its beaked extremity. 



In dry soil, southern Ontario to Wisconsin, New Jersey, 

 Florida, Arkansas and Mexico. Procession- or rogation-flower. 

 Summer. 



g. Polygala viridescens L. Field or Purple 

 Milkwort. Fig. 2703. 



Polygala viridescens L. Sp. PI. 705. 1753. 

 Polygala sanguinea L. Sp. PL 705. 1753. 



Erect, 6'-i5' high, annual, glabrous, branching 

 above, leafy. Stem soinewhat angled ; basal leaves 

 none ; stem-leaves oblong, or linear-oblong, 8"-i5" 

 long, i"-2" wide, obtuse or acute, mucronulate; 

 heads globose, becoming oval, 4"-6" thick, obtuse ; 

 pedicels about i" long; flowers rose-purple, green- 

 ish, or sometimes white ; wings sessile, sometimes 

 slightly cordate, ovate, exceeding the pod ; bracts 

 generally persistent on the elongating axis ; seed 

 obovoid, hairy, about the length of the caruncle ; 

 crest minute. 



In fields and meadows, Nova Scotia to southern On- 

 tario, North Carolina, Minnesota, Kansas, Arkansas 

 and Louisiana. June-Sept. The contrast between the 

 green-flowered and purple-flowered forms is striking 

 where the two grow together. Strawberry-tassel. 



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