POLYGALA FAMILY. 93 



1- Leaves alt alternate, narrow. 



P. incarn&ta. From Penn. "W. & S. ; stem slender, 6' - 12' high ; leaves 

 minute and awl-shaped ; the three united petals extended below into a long and 

 slender tube, the crest of the middle one conspicuous. 



P. sanguinea. Sandy damp ground ; stem 4' - 8' high, leafy to the top ; 

 leaves oblong-linear ; flowers bright rose-purple (sometimes pale or even white), 

 in a thick globular at length oblong head or spike, without pedicels. 



P. fastigiclta. Pine-bancns from New Jersey S. ; slender, 4' - 10' high, 

 with smaller narrow-linear leaves, and oblong dense spike of smaller rose-purplo 

 flowers, on pedicels as long as the pod ; bracts falling off. 



P. Nutt^llii. Sandy soil, from coast of Mass. S. ; lower, than ,the fore^ 

 going; flowers rather looser in more cylindrical spikes, greenish-purple';' awl- 

 shaped bracts remaining on the axis after the flowers or fruits have fallen. , 

 *- fr-: Leaves all or all tlie lower ones in whorls of four. 



P. cruci^ta. Low grounds : stems 3' - 10' high, 4-angled, and with spread.- 

 ing branches J leaves linear or spatulate, mostly in fours; spike thick and short, 

 nearly sessile, its axis roiigh with persistent bracts where the flowers have fallen ; 

 wings of the flower broad-ovate or heart-shaped, bristly-pointed. 



P. brevifblia. Sandy bogs from Ehode Island S. : differs from the last 

 only in more slender stems, narrower leaves, those on the branches alternate, 

 the spike stalked, and wings of the flower' lance-ovate and nearly pointless. 



* * * Flowers {all summer) greenish-white or scarcely tinged with purple, very 



small, in slender spikes, none subteiranean : leaves linear, the lower 'in 

 whorls of four or five. (5 

 P. verticill^ta. Very common in dry sterile soil; stem 5'- 10' high, 

 much branched ; all the leaves of the main stem whorled. 



P. ambigua. In similar places and very like the last, chiefly S. & W., 

 more slender; only the lowest leaves whorled; flowers more scattered and often 

 purplish-tinged, in long-peduncled spikes. 



* » » * Flowers white, small {in late spring) in a close spike terminating^imple 



tufted stems lohich rise from a perennial root, none subteri'anean : leaves 

 numerous, all alternate, y. 

 P. Senega, Seneca Snakeeoot. A medicinal plant, commoner 'W., 

 5' - 12' high, with lanceolate or oblong, or even lance-ovate short leaves, cylin- 

 drical spike, round-obovate wings, and small crest. 



P. alba. Cominon only far W. & S. W. ; more slender than the last, with 

 nai-row-Iinear leaves, more tapering long-peduncled spike, and oval wings. 



* » # » * Flowers rose-purple in a raceme, or single, largish : leaves alternate. 

 P. grandifl6ra. Dry soil S. ; pubescent, with branching stems 1° high, 



lanceolate leaves, crestless flowers scattered in a loose raceme (in late summer), 

 bright purple turning greenish. 2/ 



P. polygama. Sandy barrens, with tufted and very leafy stems 5' - 8' 

 high, linear-oblong or oblanceolate leaves, and many-flowered racemes of hand- 

 some rose-purple flowers, their ci-est conspicuous ; also on short underground 

 runners are some whitish very fertile flowers with no evident corolla. .,i"l. all 

 summer. ® 



P. paucifdlia, Tkinoed Poltgala, sometimes called Flowering Win- 

 TEEGREEN. Light soil in woods, chiefly U. : a delicate little plant, with stems 

 3' - 4' high, rising from long and slender runners or subteiTanean shoots, on 

 which are cpncealed inconspicuous fertile flowers ; leaves few and crowded at 

 the summit, ovate, petioled, spriio of them with a slender-peduncled showy 

 flower from the axil, of delicate fose-red color (rarely a white variety), almost an 

 inch long, with A conspicuous fringed crest and only 6 stamens ; in spring. ^ 



§ 2. Shrubby species of the conservatory, from the Cape of Good Mope. 



P. oppositifdlia, with opposite sessile heart-shaped and mucronate leaves, 

 of a pale hue, and large and showy purple flowers, with a tufted crest. 



P. myrtifblia, has crowded alternate oblong or obovate leaves, on short 

 petioles, and showy purple flowers 1' long, with a tufted crest. 



