452 



POLYGALACEAE. 



Vol. II. 



i6. Polygala paucifolia Willd. Fringed Milkwort. 

 Flowering Wintergreen. Gay-wings. Fig. 2710. 



Polygala paucifolia Willd. Sp. PI. 3; 880. 1800. 



Polygala iiniflora Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 53. 1803. 



Glabrous, perennial from slender prostrate stems and root- 

 stocks 6'-i.s' long. Flowering branches erect or ascending, 4'-7' 

 high ; leaves of the summits of the stems clustered, ovate or 

 oblong, I'-iJ' long, 7"-io" wide, acute, rough-margined, on 

 petioles 2"-4" long; those of the lower part of the shoots suc- 

 cessively smaller, distant, the lowest scale-like ; flowers 1-4, axil- 

 lary to the upper leaves, 7"-io" long, slender-peduncled, rose- 

 purple or rarely white, showy ; wings obovate ; crest of the corolla 

 beautifully fimbriate: seed slightly shorter than the caruncle; 

 cleistogamous subterranean flowers few, on short lateral branches. 



Tn moist rich woods. New Brunswick and Anticosti to Saskatche- 

 wan, south to Georgia, Illinois and Minnesota. Ascends to 2500 ft. in 

 Virginia. Dwarf milkwort. Evergreen snakeroot. May-wings. Little 

 pollom. Baby's^feet, -toes or -slippers. Lady's-slipper. Bird-on-the- 

 wing. Indian pink. May-July. 



Family 70. EUPHORBIACEAE J. St. Hil. Expos. Fam. 276. 1805.* 



Spurge Family. 



Monoecious or dioecious herbs, shrubs or trees, with acrid often milky sap. 

 Leaves opposite, alternate or verticillate, entire or toothed, sessile or petioled, 

 sometimes with glands at the base ; stipules present, obsolete or wanting. Inflo- 

 rescence various. Flowers apetalous or petaliferous, sometimes much reduced 

 and subtended by an involucre which resembles a calyx (genera 12-17 ), the number 

 of parts in the floral whorls often different in the staminate and pistillate flowers. 

 Stamens few, or numerous, in one series or many ; filaments separate or united. 

 Ovary usually 3-celled ; ovules i or 2 in each cavity, pendulous ; styles as many as 

 the cavities of the ovary, simple, didvided, or many-cleft. Fruit a mostly 3-lobed 

 capsule, separating, often elastically, into 3 2-valved carpels from a persistent 

 axis at maturity. Seeds anatropous ; embryo straight, or slightly curved, in fleshy 

 or oily endosperm, the broad cotyledons almost filling the seed-coats. 



About 250 genera and over 4000 species, of wide geographic distribution. 



Flowers not in an involucre, with a true calyx. 

 Ovules 2 in each cavity of the ovary. 



Petals none ; stamens usually 3. i. Phyllanthus, 



Petals present at least in the staminate flowers ; stamens 5 or 6. 2. Andrachne, 



Ovule I in each cavity of the ovary. 



Flowers spicate, racemose or axillary : calyx not corolla-like. 



Corolla present in either the staminate or pistillate flowers, or in both. 

 Stamens 5 or 6 ; filaments distinct : pubescence stellate. 



Ovary, and dehiscent capsule, 2-4-celled, mostly 3-celled. 3. Croton. 



Ovary, and achene-like capsule, i -celled. 4. Crotonopsis. 



Stamens 10; filaments monodelphous ; pubescence not stellate. 5. Difa.vis. 



Corolla none : pubescence not stellate. 



Styles many-cleft ; pistillate flowers with cleft or laciniate bracts. 6. Acalypha. 

 Styles not cleft ; bracts neither cleft nor laciniafe. 



Pistillate flowers with foliaceous or scale-like bracts ; stamens 8 or more. 

 Flowers in simple spikes or racemes ; leaf-blades not peltate. 



Styles 3 ; ovary 3-celled ; capsule 3-lobed. 7. Tragia. 



Styles 2 ; ovary 2-celled ; capsule 2-lobed. 8. Merciirialis. 



Flowers'in panicled racemes: leaf-blades peltate. 9. Riciiius, 



Pistillate flowers with glandular saticer-shaped bracts : stamens 2 or 3. 



10. Stillingia. 

 Flowers in cymes ; calyx corolla-like, salverform. 11. Citidoscolus. 



Flowers in an involucre, the calyx represented by a minute scale at the base of the filament-like 

 pedicel. 

 Glands of the involucres with petal-like appendages, these sometimes much reduced. 

 Leaves all opposite. 



Leaf-blades inequilateral, oblique at the base. 12. Chamaesyce, 



Leaf-blades equilateral, not oblique at the base. 13. Zygophyllidium. 



Leaves alternate or scattered at least below the inflorescence. 



Annual or biennial ; stipules narrow : bracts petal-like. 14. Dichropbyllum. 



Perennial ; stipules none; bracts not petal-like. 15. Tilhymalopsis. 



'- Revised by Dr J. K. Small. 



