128 



POLYGALACEJE. 



third of the strength of opium. In the Southern States the seeds of this 

 species, crushed to a pulp, are employed to stupefy fish and thus render 

 their capture easy, in the same manner as the seeds of Cocculus Indicus are 

 used for like purposes. 



POLYCALACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Plants with alternate or opposite, exstipulate 

 leaves. Flowers very irregular ; sepals usually 5 ; petals 3 ; stamens 4 

 to 8, monadelphous or diadelphous ; anthers 1-celled, opening by a pore 

 at the top ; ovary 2-celled, each cell 1-ovuled. Fruit 2-celled, 2-seeded. 



An order of few genera but many species. Represented in North 

 America by three genera, only one of which comprises medicinal species. 



POLYG AL A. —Milkwort. 



Character of the Genus. — Calyx: sepals 5, persistent, unequal, the 

 three outer smaller, the two inner (lateral) larger and petaloid. Corolla : 



petals 3, unequal, the middle (anteri- 

 or) one larger, and usually crested at 

 the apex ; all of them more or less 

 united. Stamens 8, rarely 6, their 

 filaments united below into a split 

 tube or into two equal sets, and more 

 or less cohering with the claws of the 

 petals also. Ovary 2-celled, each cell 

 1-ovuled ; style elongate, curved. 

 Fruit a small 2-seeded pod ; seeds 

 carunculate. 



Small herbs, in temperate cli- 

 mates, with alternate or whorled 

 leaves. Many of the North Ameri- 

 can species are supposed to possess 

 medicinal virtues, but only one — Poly- 

 gala Senega — has an established repu- 

 tation. The genus as a whole prob- 

 ably deserves further investigation. 



Poly gal a Senega Linne. — Sene- 

 ca SnaJceroot, Senega, Seneka. 



Description. — Calyx : the two in- 

 ner sepals, or wings, roundish-ovate, 

 white, slightly veined. Corolla small, closed, lateral petals obtuse, the ante- 

 rior, or keel, crested. Capsule obcordate, compressed, invested with the 

 persistent calyx. 



A small herbaceous perennial. Root with a hard, knotty crown and 

 tortuous branches.^ Stems several, 6 to 12 inches high, smooth, simple, 



Fig. 119. — Polygala Senega. 



