POLYGALACE^E. (MILKWORT FAMILY.) 121 



§ 2. Annuals, with all the leaves alternate : flowers in spikes, heads, or racemes termi- 

 nating the stem or branches, purple or rose-color, in summer : none subterranean. 



* Corolla conspicuously crested on the keel: the claws of the true petals united into a 



hug and slender cleft tube much surpassing the wings. 



3. P. incarnata, L. Glaucous ; stem slender, sparingly branched ; leaves 

 minute and linear-awl-shaped; spike cylindrical; flowers flesh-color; caruncle 

 longer than the narrow stalk of the hairy seed. — Dry soil, Penn. to Wisconsin 

 and southward ; rather rare. 



* * Corolla minutely or inconspicuously crested; the true petals' not longer but mostly 



shortt r than the wings : seed pear-shaped. 



4. P. sanguinea, L. Stem sparingly branched above, leafy to the top ; 

 leaves oblong-linear; heads globular, at length oblong, very dense (4"- 5" thick), 

 bright red-purple (rarely paler or even white) ; pedicels scarcely any ; wings 

 broadly ovate, closely sessile, longer than the pod ; the 2-parted caruncle almost 

 equalling the seed. — Sandy and moist ground : common. 



5. P. fastigiata, Nutt. Stem slender, at length corymbosely branched; 

 leaves narrowly linear, small ; spikes short and dense (3" in diameter) ; the small 

 rose-purple flowers on pedieds of about the length of the pod; wings obovate- or 

 oval-oblong, narrowed at the base, scarcely exceeding the pod ; bracts deciduous 

 with the flowers or fruits ; caruncle as long as and nearly enveloping the stalk- 

 like base of the minutely hairy seed. (P. sanguinea, Torr. §• Gr., excl. syn. ; 

 not of Nutt., nor L.) — Pine barrens of New Jersey (Nuttall) and Delaware 

 to Kentucky and southward. 



6. P. Wuttallii, Torr. & Gr. (Fl. \,p. 670, excl. syn. & descr.) Resembles 

 the last, but usually lower ; spikes more cylindrical ; flowers duller or greenish 

 purple, on shorter pedicels ; the awl-shaped scaly bracts persistent on the axis after 

 the flowers or fruits fall ; seed very hairy, the caruncle smaller. (P. sanguinea, 

 Nutt., not of L. P. Mariana, &c, Pluk. t. 437. P. ambigua, Torr. $• Gr. FL, 

 not of Nutt.) — Dry sandy soil, coast of Massachusetts to Kentucky and south- 

 ward. — Spike sometimes rather loose. 



7. P. Curtissii, n. sp. Slender (9' high) ; leaves, &c, as in the two pre- 

 ceding ; flowers rose-purple, in elongated and loose racemes ; the ascending pedicels 

 and the narrow oblong erect icings fully tivice the length of the pod ; bracts persistent, 

 those of the lower and remoter flowers foliaceous ; caruncle small, on one side 

 of the stalk-like base of the very hairy seed, which is conspicuously apiculate at 

 the broader end. — Near Alexandria, Virginia, A. H. Curtiss. — Most related to 

 P. Chapmanii of Florida. 



§ 3. Annuals with at least the lower stem-leaves whorled in fours, sometimes in Jives: 

 spikes terminating the stem and branches; fl. summer and autumn. 



* Spikes short and thick (4" - 9" in diameter ; the axis rough with the squarrose bracts 



persisting after the fall of the (middle-sized) rose or greenish purple flowers : crest 

 of the keel small. 



8. P. eruciata, L. Stems (3' -10' high) almost winged at the angles, 

 with spreading opposite branches ; leaves nearly all in fours, linear and some- 

 what spatulate or oblanceolate ; spikes sessile or nearly so, wings broadly deltoid- 

 ovate, slightly heart-shaped, tapering to a bristly point, or rarely pointless ; caruncle 



GM— 6 



