Descriptive Flora 



119 



leafy below, sparingly so above, with the delicate flowers form- 

 ing and maturing in succession as the tips of the branches 

 lengthen. Leaves simple, alternate. Leaf -blades less than 1 inch 

 long, entire, very narrow, smooth. The peculiar construction of 

 the flower is somewhat suggestive of an Orchid. Two of the five 

 sepals are enlarged and colored like the petals and form a pair 

 of wings on either side of the corolla, almost hiding the 3 smaller 

 petals. Stamens 8. Pods very small, 2-celled, flattened, one seed 

 in each cavity. Limestone hills and slopes. March to September. 



Polygala Imdikeimeri A. Gray. 



Low branched plants, with thick, tough, perennial roots, 

 short branches (4 to 12"), and short racemes of small, purple, 

 apparently pea-shaped flowers. Leaves simple, alternate. Leaf- 

 blades small (y$ to V2" l° n g)> leathery, obovate, oblong or elliptic 

 or lanceolate, entire, sessile or very short petioled. Sepals 5, un- 

 equal, two of them larger, colored like the petals, and forming 

 the 2 wings of the flower. True petals 3, united at their bases, 

 the middle one largest and crested, the other 2 narrow, notched 

 or mitten-shaped. Stamens usually 8. Capsule small, 6-7mm. 

 long, elliptic-oblong, notched at the top. Found growing in the 

 limestone hills of the Edwards Plateau usually firmly rooted in 

 a limestone crevice. Rare. May, June and July. Genus receives 

 its name from Gr. polys, much, gala, milk, from its supposed 

 good pasturage qualities. 



EUPHORBIACEAE. Spurge Family. 

 Andrachne phylkmthoides (Nutt.) Muell. Arg. Andrachne. 



The flowers of many of the spurges are difficult to see, often 

 lacking all that makes a flower noticeable but they are always 

 odd and interesting. These plants grow 1 to 2' high, and have 

 tufted branches that spread out of the dirt-filled cracks of broad, 

 flat limestone rocks. Leaves simple, alternate. Blades bright 

 green, broadly oval, sometimes obovate, about y% long. Flowers 

 minute, inconspicuous, solitary, on short thread-like pedicels in 



