76 POLYGALACEJE 



I. POL YG ALA. Tourn. Milkwort. 



Gr. polus, much, and gala, milky ; supposed to favor the lacteal secretions. 



Sepals 5 persistent, 2 of them wing-shaped and colored. 

 Petals 3 to 5, united to the stamens, the lower one keel- 

 form. Capsule obcordate, 2-celled, 2-YaIved, 2-seeded. 

 Seeds smooth with a caruncle. — Low hitter herhs, with sim- 

 ple cut irr Ira res, often dotted, and no stipules, sometimes hear- 

 ing concealed fertile flowers also next the ground. 



* Annual: flowers purple to white ; spiles ovale globose or oblong, dense. 



1. P. INCABNATA, L. Flesh-colored Milkwort. 



Stein erect, slender, simple or sparingly branched ; leaves small, linear-subulate, 

 few; spikes oblong or cylindrical, without glands; corolla with a long tube. 



Dry soils. Jane. July. Stem 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves % inch long, remote. 

 Spiles 1 to 134 inches long. Flowers pale rose-color or flesh-color; icings, much 

 shorter than the conspicuously crested corolla; claws of the petals united into a 

 yery long and slender-cleft tube. 



2. P. purpurea, Nutt. Purple Milkwort. 



Stem branching at top; leaves linear, alternate; flowers beardless, imbricated in 

 obtuse, cylindrical spikes ; wings of the calyx cordate-ovate, erect, twice as long as 

 the capsule. 



Meadows and wet grounds. July — Sept. A handsome erect plant 6 to 10 inches 

 high, easily recognized by its short purplish, cylindrical spike of flowers. Stem 

 angular with fastigiate branches, each ending with a spike smaller than the main 

 stem, but rising above it in height. 



* * Spikes elongated or racemose; flowers white or greenish. 



3. P. ambigua, Nutt. Ambiguous Milkwort. 



Stem erect, very slender, loosely branched: lowest stem leaves in whorls of four, 

 the rest scattered, narrowly linear; spikes long peduncled, very slender; flowers 

 crested; bracts deciduous. 



Dry woods. Aug., Sept. Stem 6 to 12 inches high, somewhat angular. Leaves 

 sessile, tapering to to 1 inch long, narrow. Racemes spicate. acute, 



about 1 inch Ion; owered, on peduncles 1 to 3 inches long. Flowers 



small, greenish-white, tinged with purple. Wings of the calyx round and veined. 



4. P. VERTICELLATA, L. Whorl-leaved Milkwort. 



Stem erect, branched; leaves whorled, linear and lance-linear: raceme spiked, 

 dense, acute, on rather short peduncles; bracts falling with the flowers; icings 

 round, clawed. 



Dry hills; common. July— Oct. Stem very slender. square, 6 to 10 inches high. 

 Leaves in whorls of 4 or 5 r % to 1 inch long, alternate on the branches. Flowers 

 small, greenish-white, sometimes tinged with purple ; crest rather large in pro- 

 portion. 



5. P. senega, L. Seneca Snake-root. 



Stems several form a thick and hard knotty root, simple; leaves alternate, lan- 

 ceolate, tapering at each end. rough on the margin, spikes cylindrical, rather 

 dense, somewhat acute ; flowers on extremely sbort pedicels: icings of the calyx 

 orbicular; capsule elliptic, emarginate. 



Woods and meadows. June, July. Perennial. Stem a foot high, with ovate 

 scale-like leaves at the base. Leaves smooth, finely serrulate, 1 to 3 inches long, % 

 as wide, numerous, scattered. Flowers white in a filiform spike 1 to 3 inches long. 



