Cant. (3 id ed.) p. 287.— Hook. FI. Scot. p.211.-Grev. FI. Edin. p. 154.-FI. 
Devon. pp. 1 19 & 187. — Johnst. FI. of Berw. v. i. p. 157. — Don’s Gen. Syst. of 
Card, and Bot. v. i. p. 352. — Walker’s FI. of Oxf. p.203. — Jacob’s West Devon 
and Cornw. FI. — Perry’s PI. Varv. Select®, p. 60. — Pamplin’s PI. of Battersea 
and Clapham, p. 13. — Bab. FI. Bath. p. 7. — Mack. Catal. of PI. of I rel p 65; 
FI. Hibern. p. 35. — Polygala, Ray’s Syn. p. *287. — John. Ger. pp.563 &564. 
Localities. — On gravelly and heathy pastures, and in woods; common. 
Perennial. — Flowers in June and July. 
Root woody, tough, fibrous. Stems from 3 to 8 inches long, 
procumbent, or ascending, sometimes nearly upright when grow- 
ing among taller plants or under bushes ; simple, angular, leafy. 
Leaves numerous, scattered, nearly sessile, strap-spear-shaped, dark 
green, those near the root shortest, broadest, and most crowded. 
Flowers in a simple, terminal raceme ( cluster J, usually of a fine 
blue, but frequently pink, white, or purple ; and always marked 
with green lines. Bracteas three at the base of each pedicel, egg- 
shaped, concave, membranaceous, slightly coloured, deciduous. 
Calyx (fig. 1.) permanent, of 5 sepals, the 2 innermost coloured, 
much the largest, at length turning green, and protecting the ripen- 
ing fruit. Corolla (fig. 2.) of 3 petals, closely united at the base, 
so as to resemble one deeply 3-cleft, the two upper petals entire, 
one of them somewhat overlapping the other, their points generally 
a little indexed ; lower one keeled, tubular below, the apex ex- 
panding into two sets of club-shaped glandular appendages (see 
fig. 4). Filaments (fig. 3.) all united at the base, divided above 
into 2 sets of 4 each. Anthers yellow or orange. Style (see fig. 5.) 
thicker upwards. Stigma 2-lobed, one a fleshy knob, the other 
spear-shaped, concave. Capsule (figs. 6 & 7.) bordered. 
This pretty plant is a native of gravelly heathy pastures and woods through- 
out Europe; it retains its leaves through the Winter. Hermits who inhabited 
elevated places, formerly planted it round their habitations. Linnjeus found it 
to possess the same properties as the Senega Rattle-snake Hoot ( Poly'gala 
SdnegaJ, but in an inferior degree. Dohamll used it in pleuritic cases with 
success; the powdered root may be given in doses of half a drachm. An infu- 
sion of the herb, which is very bitter, taken in the morning fasting, about a 
quarter of a pint daily, promotes expectoration, and is good for catarrhous 
coughs. Foreigners celebrate it as a grateful and nutritious food for cattle. 
Cows, goats, and sheep are said to eat it; swine to refuse it. 
Poly'gala amdra, the other British species, is distinguished from vulgaris by 
“ the size and form of its lower leaves, which, as well as those of the barren 
shoots, are broadly obovate, blunt, sometimes spathulate and slightly emarginate, 
varying from half an inch to an inch in length.” Engl. Bot. Supp. t. 2764.—- 
217 species of Polygala are described in Mr. Don’s Gen. Syst. of Gard. S; Bot. 
The Natural Order Polygai.ea., is composed of dicotyledonous herbs and 
shrubs, with mostly alternate, entire leaves, and racemose flowers. The calyx 
(see fig. 1.) is composed of 5 sepals, which are imbricated in the bud, the 2 inner 
ones usually petal-like and coloured ; the 3 outer ones smaller ; of these last two 
are connected. The corolla (fig. 2.) is formed of from 3 to 5 petals, which are 
inferior, and more or less connected by means of the stamina! tube, 'lihe fila- 
ments (see fig. 3.) are united with the petals, and are combined at the base into 
one set, which divides at top into 2 equal portions, containing 4 anthers each. 
The anthers are 1-cellcd, and open by a pore at the top. The ovary (see f. 5.) 
is single, distinct, and 2-celled, rarely 1- or 3-celled ; the style single and in- 
curved ; and the stigma funnel-shaped or 2-lolied. The fruit is capsular or 
drupaceous, of 1 or 2 cells, the valves bearing the dissepiment in the middle. 
The seeds are solitary in each cell, pendulous, and generally accompanied by a 
kind of caruncle or arillus at the base, sometimes hairy or comose. The embryo 
is straight, in the axis of a fleshy albumen, the latter is sometimes wanting, in 
which case the inner coating of the testa is tumid. See Lindl. Syn. 
