250 XXIII. POLYGALB^. 



Flowe'rs irregular. Petals hypogynous, unequal. Stamen.-: usually double the 

 number of the petals. Anthers 1- {rarely 2-) celled, opening at the top by 1-2 pores. 

 OvAKT 2-celled. Ovules pendulous, anatropous. Feuit a fleshy capsule, rarely 

 indehiscent. Embkto albuminous or exalbnminous. 



Heebs or UNDEESHEUBS, sometimes twining, or erect, sometimes climbing 

 SHRUBS, rarely arborescent, glabrous, cottony or velvety, hairs not stellate. Leaves 

 alternate, rarely opposite, simple, entire. Flowees § , irregular, solitary, spiked or 

 racemed, or rarely panicled, axillary or terminal ; pedicels usually jointed at the base, 

 bracteate and 2-bracteolate. Sepals 6, free, imbricate, 2 inner largest, often winged 

 and petaloid. Petals 3 or 5, hypogynous, the 2 lateral free, or united at their base 

 with the lower, concave or galeate [keel], in the gamopetalous corolla split behind, 

 rarely ; upper 2 sometimes equal to the lateral, enveloping the keel in sestivation, 

 sometimes small, scale -like, or {Se&uridaca). Stamens 8, rarely 5-4 [Salomonia), 

 inserted on the receptacle ; filaments rarely free (Xanthophyllum) , usually monadel- 

 phous, forming a sheath split on its upper edge, and more or less united out- 

 side with the petals ; anthers erect, basifixed, 1- (rarely 2-) celled [Xanthophyllum, 

 Securidaca), opening at the top by a pore (rarely 2), more or less oblique; pollen of 

 Polygala ovoid, external membrane splitting in longitudinal bands, allowing the 

 inner membrane to protrude, and resembling the staves of a barrel. Disk small, 

 often 0, or rarely expanded into an imperfect unilateral ring. Ovaey free, with 2 

 antero-posterior cells, rarely 1-celled by arrest {Securidaca), very rarely 3-5-celled 

 {Trigoniastrum, Moutabea) ; style terminal, curved, dilated at the top, undivided or 

 2-4'-lobed ; stigma terminal, or situated between the lobes of the style ; ovules 

 pendulous, usually solitary in each cell, or rarely twin, collateral [Krameria), or very 

 rarely 2-6, scattered [Xanthophyllum), anatropous, raphe ventral. Petjit usually a 

 loculicidal or indehiscent capsule, a drupe [Garpolobia, Mundtia), or samara [Securi- 

 daca, Trigoniastrum). Seeds pendulous ; testa crustaceous, often velvety [Gome- 

 spermum) ; hilum often strophiolate [Polygala) ; albumen sometimes copious, fleshy or 

 mucilaginous, sometimes scanty or 0. Embeto axile, straight ; cotyledons plano- 

 convex, fleshy and thick in the exalbuminous seeds ; radicle short, superior. 



PRINCIPAL GENERA. 



• Polygala. Comesperma. Bredemeyera. Secuvidaca. Cavpolobia. 



:Moutabea. Xanthopliylluin. Krameria. Salomonia. Muraltia. 



The affinities of Polygalece are obscuire. They were formerly placed near Rldnanthece on account of 

 the irregular hypogynous apparently monopetalous corolla, the two-celled ovary, and compressed capsule ; 

 but their other characters are all opposed to this affinity. They have since been compared with Papilio- 

 naceee ; but in these, besides the perigynous insertion and a host of other differences, the odd petal is 

 next the axis, whilst it is opposite it in Polygalece. The affinity with Sapindacea: is also very distant, 

 and almost confined to the hypogynous imbricate and often irregular corolla, the 1-2-ovuled ovarian cells, 

 eimpls style, capsular or samaroid fruit, and often arillate or strophiolate seeds. There is a much closer 

 affinity with Tremandrea : similar habit, ovary with two one-ovuled cells, pendulous ovules, compressed 

 capsule, strophiolate seeds, one-celled anthers opening by pores, pollen-granules opening by longitudinal, 

 slits ; but in Iremcmdrecu the flower is regular, the {estivation of the calyx is valvate, the stamens are in 



