86 POLYGALAC. iE. (mII.KWOKT FAMILY.) 



name, from noKvs, much, and ydXa, milk, from it fancied property of its in- 

 creasing this secretion.) 



^Biennial {&' ~ 12' high) : Jiowers yellow : crest of tJi£ keel small. 



1 . Pt iHtea, L. Flowers in solitary ovate or oblong Jteads, terminating the 

 stem or simple branches {bright orange-yellow); leaves (1'- 2' long) obovate or 

 spatulate ; lobes of the caruncle nearly as long as the seed. — Sandy swamps, New 

 Jersey and sonthwai-d, near the coast. June - Sept. — Stems at first simple. 

 Head of flowers |' in diameter, showy. 



2. I*, ramosa., Ell. Flowers (citron-yellow) in numerous short and dense 

 spike-like racemes collected in a, flat-topped compound cyme ; leaves oblong-linear, 

 the lowest spatulate or obovate ; seeds ovoid, minutely hairy, twice the length of 

 the caruncle. (P. cymosa. Pair., not of Walt. P. corymbosa, Nutt. ) — Damp 

 pine-barrens, New Jersey ? Delaware, and southward, — Flowers turning green 

 in drying. (The allied P. oym6sa, Walt., which is P. graminifolia. Pair., P. 

 attenuata, Nutt., P. acutifolia, Torr. ^ Gray, — known by its simpler cymes, 

 stem naked above, narrower leaves, and globular seeds with no camncle, — 

 probably occm-s in S. Virginia.) 



* * Annual : fiowers purple or white, in spikes ; no subterranean blossoms : crest of 



the ked minute, except in Nos. 3, 9, and 10. 



•*- Leaves all alternate or scattered : flowers purple or flesh-color. 



3. P. incarnata, L. Glaucous ; stem slender, simple or sparingly 

 branched (1° high); leaves small, linear-awl-shaped; spike oblong or cylindri- 

 cal ; loings muck shorter than the conspicuously crested corolla ; claws of the petals 

 united in a very long and slender cleft tube ; caruncle 2-lobed, longer than the stalk 

 of the hairy seed. — Dry soil, Maryland and Ohio to Wisconsin and southward. 

 July. 



4. P. sauguinea, L. Stem branched at the top (&'-10' high) ; leaves 

 obhng-linear ; spikes roundish or oblong, dense, very obtuse ; wings broadly ovate, 

 obtuse; caruncle almost as long as the seed. (P. pui-purea, Nutt.) — Sandy and 

 moist ground; common. July -Sept. — Spikes i' thick, reddish-purple: the 

 axis, as in Nos. 5 and 6, beset with the persistent awl-shaped scaly bracts after 

 the flowers have fallen. 



5. P. fastig^iata, Nutt. Stem slender, at length much branched above ; 

 leaves linear ; spikes short ; wings ovate-oblong, tapering at the base into distinct 

 claws ; caruncle as long as, and nearly enveloping, the stalk-like ^ase of the minutely 

 hairy seed. (P. sanguinoa, Torr. ^ Gr., excl. syn. ; not of Nutt., nor L.) — 

 Pino barrens of New Jersey (Nuttall) to Kentucky and southward. — Spikes 

 looser, and the rose-purple flowers much smaller, than in No. 4, brighter-colored 

 than in the next, which it most resembles. 



6. P. Nuttsillii, Torr. & Gr. {Fl. 1, p. 670, excl. syn., & descr.) Stem 

 branched above (4' -9' high) ; leaves linear; spikes oblong, dense; wings ellip- 

 tical, on very short claws ; caruncle small and applied to one side of the stalk-like base 

 of the very hairy seed. (P. sanguinea, Nutt., not of L. P. Mariana, &c., Pluk., 

 t. 437. P. ambigiui, Torr. S,- Gr., Fl, not of AliW.)— Dry sandy soil, coast of 

 Massachusetts to Penn. and southward. Aug. — Spikes ^' in diameter; the 

 flowers light purple and greenish, duller-colored than in the last, with thicker 



