POLYGALACEJE. 



99 



Several of the showy south African species are often cultivated in our 

 greenhouses. 



1. Common Milkwort. Polygala vulgaris, Linn. (Fig. 12 L) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 76, and Suppl. t. 2827, and P. amara, Eng. Bot. 

 Suppl. t. 2764. MilJcicort.) 



A glabrous or nearly glabrous peren- 

 nial, with a short-tufted or almost woody 

 stock, and numerous diffuse or ascending 

 branches, from an inch or two to near a 

 foot long. It will also occasionally 

 flower the first year, so as to appear 

 annual. Leaves crowded at the base, 

 the lowest obovate or even orbicular, 

 especially in young plants, the upper 

 ones oblong-lanceolate, or even linear, 

 2 or 3 lines to near an inch long. Elowers 

 usually bright blue or pink, hanging on 

 short pedicels in elegant terminal ra- 

 cemes, with a small bract at the base of 

 each pedicel. Three outer sepals small, 

 linear, and greenish, the 2 wings twice 

 as large, obovate or oblong, coloured 

 and elegantly veined ; after flowering 

 they lie flat on the capsule, but become 

 greener. Petals much smaller, the 2 



lateral oblong-linear, the lowest keel- shaped, and tipped with a little 

 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. 



Fig. 124. 



XL THE FRANKENIA FAMILY. FRANKENIACE.E. 



An Order limited to the genus Frankenia, which differs from 

 the Fink family in the parietal placentas of the ovary and capsule, 



i 2 



