62 
POLYGALA SENEGA. 
Rattle-snake Milk-wort * 
Class DiADELPHFA. — Order Octandria. 
^at. Ord. LoMENTACE^, Linn. Pediculares, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx five-leaved, with two of the leaflets 
wing-shaped and coloured. Legume cordate, two-celled 
Spec. Char. Leaves alternate, lanceolate. Stem erect, 
herbaceous^ simple. >S/?z^e terminal. F/oif?er* beardless. 
The Genus Polygala comprises a very numerous tribe of plants, 
natives of every quarter of the globe. M. de Candolle enumerates 
above one hundred and sixty species, of which about thirty have 
been introduced into our botanic gardens. Of this numerous 
family of plants, one species only is indigenous to Britain, the 
Polygala Vulgaris, which is common in many parts of England, 
growing in pastures, and upon dry heaths.f The rattle-snake milk- 
wort is a native of Virginia, and other parts of North America, 
flowering in June and August; it was first introduced into our 
gardens about the year 1759, by Mr. P. Miller. 
The root is perennial, woody, branched, contorted, about the 
thickness of a finger, and covered with a grey or ash-coloured bark ; 
it sends up several stems, which are of a dark reddish colour, and 
rise nearly a foot in height, erect, round, smooth and slender ; the 
leaves are oblong, or lance-shaped, acutely pointed, of a pale green, 
and stand alternately sessile, or upon very short footstalks; the 
flowers are in terminal spikes, of the papilionaceous kind ; the calyx 
is persistent, and divided into three narrow segments ; the corolla is 
composed of two exterior petals or wings, which are flat, and of an 
oval shape, a short tubular standard undivided at the mouth, and a 
flattened keel, distended towards the end, from whence proceeds a 
♦ Fig. a. part of the root. b. c. d. e. and /. The petals, g. The capsule, h. A 
seed. i. The three smaller leaves of the calyx. 
t We are told by Mr. P.Miller there are three varieties of this species, one with 
blue, another with purple, and a third with white blossoms. 
