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149 
MURALTIA STIPULACEA. 
(STIPULAR MILK-WORT.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
MONADELPHIA. HEXANDRIA. 
natural order. 
POLYGALEtE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx of five nearly equal parts, glumaceous. Petals three, connected, the 
middle bifid, with blunt lobes. Ovary surmounted with four tubercles, or horns. Capsules two- 
valved, two-celled. 
Specific Character. — A greenhouse shrub, with short rigid branches. Leaves linear, convex on the 
under side, stiff-pointed ; smooth fascicles, each fascicle supported, by a short, blunt, hollowed stipula. 
Calyx five-parted. Flowers axillary, single, or two together, bright purple, variegated with white. 
Synonyme. — Polygala stipulacea. 
This species is interesting at all seasons, but when in flower it is doubly so, not 
so much on account of its neat character, as for the great length of time its 
numerous little gay variegated flowers continue in perfection, thus maintaining a 
contrast the most pleasing between the flowers and foliage for many months. The 
plant grows, under good treatment, as much as three feet high, producing a fair 
proportion of branches ; it blossoms very freely, which although small are, on 
account of the slender furze-like character of the foliage, distinctly seen ; it is highly 
worthy of a place in every collection of Cape plants. It thrives in the greenhouse in 
sandy peat, mixed with a small proportion of open loam ; it is a common practice to 
pot them in sandy peat only, but by adding a little open loam, we find the plant grows 
stronger, and that the flowers are equally abundant, much larger, and finer. Cuttings 
of the young branches strike by simply preparing and planting them in sand under a 
glass. Seeds grow freely. 
It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and as it has been long in cultivation, it 
may be procured of any nurseryman at a trifling cost. 
