Polygala. | X. POLYGALACE, 57 
crest. Style dilated at the top. Capsule green, orbicular, surrounded by 
a narrow wing, notched at the top. Seeds oblong, downy. 
In meadows and pastures, on banks, under hedges, etc., throughout 
Europe and Russian Asia, except the extreme north. Abundant in Britain. 
Fl. all summer. It varies much in the relative size of the lower and upper 
leaves, in the size and colour of the flowers, in the veins and the breadth of 
the wings, etc., and many forms which have appeared constant in particular 
localities, have at various times been characterized as species. The most 
remarkableis P. amara, Linn. (P. uliginosa, Fries.), a small plant, with the 
lower leaves obovate and spreading, precisely like some forms of the common 
variety, except that the flowers are rosy, and the inner sepals or wings are 
narrower, with their veins all simply branched, not anastomosing, as in 
all other British varieties. It is a Continental variety, which had only been 
found in Britain on Cronkley Fell, in north Yorkshire; but a blue-flowered 
form (P. austriaca, Crantz) has been detected in Kent by Mr. Duthie. [P. 
calearea, F. Sch., is a common form in southern England with rooting 
proliferous branches that spread from the roots, and with the nerves of the 
wings scarcely anastomosing. | 
ce esmemamemnammmes | 
XI. FRANKENIACEA. THE FRANKENIA FAMILY. 
An Order limited to the genus Frankenia, which differs 
from the Caryophyllacee in the parietal placentas of the ovary 
and capsule, and from Hypericinee in its valvate calyx and 
definite stamens, and in its habit. 
I. FRANKENTIA. FRANKENIA. 
Prostrate or spreading seacoast herbs or undershrubs, with opposite, 
often clustered, small leaves, and no stipules, the flowers sessile in the 
upper axils. Sepals combined into a tubular calyx, with 4 or 5 teeth. 
Petals 4 or 5, with long claws and spreading laminas. Stamens 4 or 5, 
alternating with the petals, and usually 2 or 3 additional ones opposite the 
petals. Ovary single, with one style, shortly 2-, 3-, or 4-cleft. Capsule 
opening in 2, 3, or 4 valves. Seeds attached to the centre of the valves, 
_ very small, with a straight embryo imbedded in albumen. 
A genus of few species, but widely spread over the eee of nearly 
all the temperate and warmer regions of the globe. 
1, F.leevis, Linn. (fig. 127). Common Frankenia, Sea-heath.—A 
diffuse, much-branched perennial, spreading to the extent of 6 or 8 inches ; 
glabrous or nearly so in the British specimens. Leaves crowded in little 
opposite clusters along the branches, small, rather thick, and appearing 
linear from their edges being closely rolled down, Flowers few, sessile 
among the upper leaves, forming little terminal leafy heads or short spikes. 
Calyx furrowed, about the length of the leaves. Petals, small, pink. 
In maritime sands and salt-marshes, common round the Mediterranean 
and in central Asia, extends up the western coasts of Spain and France, 
and varieties of what is now considered as the same species are abundant 
in similar localities in the southern hemisphere. In Britain it is only on 
the south-eastern coasts of England, from Yarmouth to Sussex. 7. 
summer, The hairy variety, often distinguished as a species, common in 
the south, does not appear to extend to Britain. 
