66 POLYGALACE^E 



the lateral ones blue, and the lower yellow. It occurs on sandy 

 shores in the west of England and Ireland. Perennial. 



13. V. liitea (Yellow Mountain Violet, or Mountain Pansy). — 

 Rhizome branched with runners ; stem angular, ascending ; leaves 

 oblong, crenate ; stipules palmately pinnatifid^not lyrate, terminal 

 lobe narrow; petals spreading, longer than the sepals, yellow, 

 purple, or parti-coloured. — Mountain pastures in the north. — 

 Fl. June, July. Perennial. 



ORD. X. POLYGALACEJE. — THE MILKWORT FAMILY 



Herbs and Shrubs with bitter, emetic, and laxative properties. 

 Leaves scattered, exstipulate, simple ; flowers in racemes, mono- 

 symmetric and often showy; sepals 5, unequal, the two 

 inner larger and petaloid ; petals 3 — 5, more or less united ; 

 stamens 8, diadelphous in two sets of four, epipetalous ; anthers 

 1 -chambered, opening by pores at the summit ; carpels 2, united 

 into a two-chambered ovary; ovules one in each chamber; 

 placentation axile ; fruit a capsule. Several species are said to 

 be valuable medicinally. Polygala Senega (Snake-root), a North 

 American plant, is reputed to cure snake-bites. Krameria 

 (Rhatany), obtained from South America, is an astringent, un- 

 doubtedly useful in cases of dysentery, and furnishes also a red 

 infusion, used to adulterate port-wine. 



1. Polygala (Milkwort). — The British species are all small 

 herbs. Sepals 5, the two inner coloured, wing-shaped, persistent ; 

 petals 3 — 5, united, the lower one keel-shaped and crested ; cap- 

 sule compressed, 2-valved ; seeds downy, with an aril at the base. 

 (Name from the Greek, signifying much ?nilk, being supposed 

 to increase the yield in cows.) 



1. P. vulgaris (Common Milkwort, Gangweed). — Stems pros- 

 trate, ascending, leafy ; leaves scattered, linear-lanceolate ; racemes 

 terminal ; bracts 3, at the base of each flower, the central one as 

 long as the pedicel, the lateral ones shorter ; flowers blue, pink, 

 or white, 10 — 20 in a raceme; veins of wing-sepals branching 

 and reuniting freely, the central vein ending in a mucro or pro- 

 jecting point ; no cilia on bracts, sepals or capsule. — Common on 

 heaths and dry pastures, especially on chalky soil. — Fl. June — 

 August. Perennial. 



2. P. oxyptera is a local form with more prostrate and spread- 

 ing growth, narrower leaves, smaller, more distant, and more 

 deflexed flowers, and narrower wing-sepals. 



3. P. serpylldcea, more widely-distributed form, has a slender, 

 wiry, flexuose, prostrate stem ; lower leaves opposite ; flowers few 



