Blake — Revision of Polygala 5 
Some species here included in Hebantha on foliage-characters have 
however the aril much as in Microthrix, and in some cases it may 
be necessary to search in the keys of both subsections to determine 
a plant whose position is not clear. A satisfactory grouping of the 
species in this subsection (EHuhebecarpa) must await the discovery 
of mature seeds in all the species. 
Chodat (Monog. i. 50-51 (1891)) has fallen into error in ascrib- 
ing extra-axillary racemes to this subgenus. The apparently extra- 
axillary racemes commonly seen in many species are in reality ter- 
minal, their position being due to the excessive growth of a normal 
axillary branch from at or near the base of the originally terminal 
peduncle, a process which may be several times repeated on the 
same stem. Only in Hebeclada and Chamaebuxus have I found ap- 
parently extra-axillary racemes that were not clearly susceptible of 
explanation in this way. 
4. Hebeclada. A strictly American and very distinct group, rep- 
resented in the region under consideration by fifteen species, herbs 
or shrubs, sometimes annuals, with rather loose racemes of purple 
flowers. The lower sepals are united nearly or quite to apex, and 
with the upper sepal and the often strongly inequilateral petaloid 
Wings are very persistent. The aril in this group is large or medium, 
corneous, lobeless or with three very inconspicuous lobes, and with- 
out scarious margin. Although connate lower sepals do not occur 
in any other American Polygalas, there are a number of African 
and Madagascarene species of Orthopolygala (subsect. X. Chodat, 
in part) where they are likewise found. 
5. Chamaebuxus. This subgenus, as sectionally defined by Cho- 
dat, was distinguished by its more or less crested keel, peculiar 
stigmata, deciduous sepals and wings, and especially by the posses_ 
sion of an annular or gland-like disc at the base of the ovary. The 
Mexican species, with a few others from the southwestern United 
States, form a most distinct section in which the crest of the keel 
is an entire conic or cylindric closed beak. In a single species, 
P. desertorum Brandegee, the sepals and wings are long-persistent 
as in Orthopolygala, but the rostrate keel and other characters place 
the species in Chamaebuxus. 
6. Orthopolygala. This large subgenus, including about three- 
quarters of the known Polygalas of the world, is less abundantly 
represented in Mexico and the West Indies, where it includes 
