Polygala.] polygalace^e. 57 



Shrubs 07- herbs. Leaves without stipules. Flowers usually race- 

 mose." — Br. Fl. 



1. Polygala, Linn. Milk-wort. 



" Calyx with 2 sepals, wing-shaped and coloured. Petals com- 

 bined by their claws with the filaments, the lower one keeled. 

 Capsule compressed. Seeds downy, crested at the hilmn." — 

 Br. Fl. 



1. P. vulgaris, L. Common Milkwort. " Perennial, keel 

 crested, flowers in a terminal raceme, wings of the calyx ovate or 

 oblong about as long as the corolla, capsule glabrous sessile, 

 stems herbaceous often branched at the base, branches simple 

 procumbent or ascending, leaves on the branches linear or 

 oblong."— 5r. Fl. p. 52. E. B. t. 76. P. amara, Bon in E. B. S. 

 t. 2764. P. calcarea, Schultz. 



In heathy open places, pastures, on dry banks, and in woods, &c., very com- 

 mon. Fl. May — July. If. 



" Stems 4 — 8 inches long. Corolla beautifully crested, blue, purple, pink or 

 white. Calyx-leaves persistent, enclosing the fruit." — Br. Fl. 5th ed. 



2. P. depressa, Wend. Trailing Milkwort. Stems depressed 

 filiform branched leafy, lower leaves mostly crowded oblong or 

 obovate - elliptical obtuse, upper leaves lanceolate scattered, 

 racemes short few-flowered, flowers crested, sepals (wings) oblong- 

 obovate their lateral nerves reticulate anastomosing with an 

 obUque branch of the central nerve. Wenderoth ex Koch in Roh- 

 ling's Deutschland's Fl. v. p. 72. Cosson et Gej-m. Flore des Env. 

 de Par. i. p. 56, and Atlas, tab. 8, fig. B. Lloyd, Fl. de la Loire 

 inf. p. 32. Godron, Fl. de Lorraine, i. p. 97 (opt. descr.) Lej. et 

 Com-t. Comp. Fl. Belg. iii. p. 29. Bromf. Phytologist, ii- p. 966. 

 P. serpyllacea, Reichenb. Fl. Germ, excvrs. No. 2398. Polygala 

 myrtifolia palustris humilis et ramosior, Ray, Syn. p. 287 (edit. 

 Stia). Blackstone, Spec. Botan. p. 76. 



Fl. May— September. 2f . 



On Bleak down, in bare gravelly spots, but sparingly. 



Root more slender than that of P. vulgaris. Stems diffuse, prosUate, almost 

 filiform, lying flat upon the ground and spreading in every direction, with irregular 

 wiry branches, which, as well as the principal stems, are for the most part closely 

 beset with leaves at their base or about the middle of their length ; the older 

 occasionally bare of leaves below, from the falling away of the latter througli time. 

 Leaves (in my fresh specimens) yellowish green, leathery and shining, the lower 

 and middle oblong-elliptical or obovate-elliptical, obtuse or very slightly pointed, 

 crowded, opposite or alternate, mostly increasing in size as they ascend up to a 

 certain point, beyond which they again diminish, and finally become longer and 

 narrower, or elliptic-lanceolate, more remote, alternate or scattered. JRacemes 

 terminal and lateral, comparatirely with P. vulgaris few-flowered and short. 

 Flowers small, bluish white (rarely deep blue, Koch) ; lateral enlarged sepals 

 {wings) oblong - obovate, scarcely pointed, their lateral nervures considerably 



I 



