upper fide, but hoary on their under j the (talks and 
branches are terminated by clutters of blue flowers, 
which are collected in roundirh heads. This fort 
flowers in July and Auguft. 
The fifteenth fort grows naturally about Smyrna ; this 
hath di fluffed (talks, which rife about a foot high j 
they are white, and clofely garni (bed with linear 
leaves near two inches long, and about a quarter of 
an inch broad-, they are indented regularly on their 
edges like thofe of Spleenworr, but the indentures are 
not deep j they are of a dark green on their upper fide, 
but hoary on their under. The flowers are colledted 
in roundifh fpikes, which terminate the branches, and 
alfo come out from their fide ; they are white, and 
fhaped like thofe of the other fpecies. It flowers in 
July and Auguft. 
There are feveral other fpecies of this genus, which 
grow naturally in the warmer parts of Europe but 
thofe which are here mentioned, are all that I have 
yet feen growing in the Englifh gardens therefore I 
have omitted the other, as I have had no opportunity 
to examine them myfelf. 
All the forts, except the firft, are abiding plants ; 
they may be propagated by feeds, which muft be pro- 
cured from the countries where they naturally grow, 
becaufe they feldom perfedt their feeds in England. 
Thefe (hould be fown upon a bed of frefli light earth 
in the fpring, and when the plants come up, they 
muft be carefully kept clean from weeds ; about the 
middle of July the plants will be fit to remove, when 
they may be carefully taken up, and part of them 
planted on a warm border of dry rubbifhy foil, ob- 
lerving to fhade them from the fun, and water them 
till they have taken new root; after which they will 
require no other culture but to keep them clean from 
weeds. My adviling thefe and many other aromatic 
plants, which are natives of the warmer parts of Eu- 
rope, to be planted in rubbilh, isbfounded upon long 
experience of their abiding much longer, and refill- 
ing the cold of our winters much better, than when 
they are growing in better ground, where they grow 
much freer, are fuller of moifture, and therefore more 
liable to be killed by froft. 
The other part of the plants may be planted in fmall 
pots, filled with fre(h, light, undunged earth, and 
placed in the (hade till they have taken new root ; 
then they may be removed into an open fituation, 
where they may remain till the beginning of Novem- 
ber, when they (hould be placed under a common 
frame, to fecure them from the froft in winter, which 
fometimes deftroys thefe plants ; by this method the 
fpecies may be preferved. 
Thefe plants may be difpofed in a garden, fo as to af- 
ford pleafure, by mixing them with Marum, Maftich, 
and feveral other aromatic plants, upon the Hoping 
fides of banks, which are expofed to the fun, or upon 
little hillocks raifed in a fheltered fituation, where, by 
the diverfity of their hoary branches, being of various 
fiiapes, they will make a pretty appearance and in 
fuch places they will refill the, cold much better, than 
when they are planted in a good foil. 
They may alfo be propagated by cuttings or flips, 
v/hich (hould be planted the beginning of April, juft 
before they (hoot, upon a border expofed to the Eaft 
and if the feafon proves dry, they muft be watered and 
(haded until they have taken root, and afterward they 
will require no other care but to keep them clean 
from weeds, and at Michaelmas the plants (hould be 
removed where they are defigned to remain ; but it 
will be proper to put a plant of each fort in pots, that 
they may be (heltered in winter to preferve the kinds. 
The fourth and fifth forts are fometimes ufed in me- 
dicine. 
POLYANTHUS. See Primula. 
POLYGALA. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 174. tab. 79. 
Lin. Gen. Plant. 761. [This plant is fo called, of •etoaJ, 
much, and yd\x, milk, becaufe if cattle are fed in 
marfhes that produce this plant, they give a great 
quantity of milkV it is alfo called Ambarvalis, of 
Ambiendis Arvis, from luftrating the fields ; becaufe 
POL 
ttie ancients ufed to crown virgins with the flowers of 
this plant, when they perambulated the fields, to im- 
plore fertility thereto j it is alfo called Amarella, be- 
caufe it has a bitter tafte.] Milkwort. 
The Characters are, 
Ike flower has a j mall permanent empale, meni cf three 
leaves , which are oval and acute ; two of thefe are be- 
low the petals , and one is above. T he flower is fhaped 
like thofe of the butterfly kind, the number of petals is in- 
determinate. ‘The wings are large , plain , and extend be- 
yond the other petals , the ftandard is tubulous , floor t, and 
reflexed at the brim , where it is bifld. The keel is con- 
cave , compreffed . , and bellied toward the top. It hath 
eight ftamina in two bodies , included in the keel, termi- 
nated by Jingle fummits ; and an oblong germen [upper ting 
an ere ft ftyle , terminated by a thick bifid ftigma. The 
germen afterward becomes a keart-Jhaped capfuls having 
two cells , each containing one feed. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond fedtion 
of Linnaeus’s feventeenth dais, which contains thofe 
plants whofe flowers have eight (lamina joined in two 
bodies. 
The Species are, 
r. Polygala ( Vulgaris ) floribus criftatis racemofis, 
caulibus herbaceis fimplicibus procumbentibus, foliis 
lineari-lanceolatis. Amcen. Acad. 2. p. 136. Milkwort 
with branching crefted flowers , Jingle , trailing , herbaceous 
flalks , and linear fpear-Jhaped leaves. Polygala vulga- 
ris. C. B. P. 215. Common Milkwort. 
2. Polygala ( Monjpeliaca ) floribus criftatis, racemofis, 
caule eretfto, foliis lanceolato-linearibus acutis. Sauv. 
Monfp. 53. Milkwort with branching crefted flowers , 
an ereft Jlalk , and acute , fpear-Jhaped , linear leaves . 
Polygala vulgaris coloris obfoleti, foliis anguftiffimis. 
J. B. 3. p. 338. Common Milkwort with a worn-out 
flower , and the narroweft leaves. 
3. Polygala ( Myrtifolia ) floribus criftatis, carina In- 
nulata, caule fruiicolo, foliis kevibus oblongis obtufis, 
Amoen. Acad. 2. p. 138. Milkwort with crefted flowers, 
a moon-Jhaped keek and a Jhrubby jlalk bearing oblong 
leaves , which end in obtuje points. Polygala frutefeens, 
folio buxi, (lore maximo. Tourn. Inft. 175. Shrubby 
Milkwort , with a Box-tree leaf and a large flower. 
4. Polygala. (< Chamcsbuxus ) floribus imberbibus fparfis, 
carinae apice fubrotundo, caule fruticofo, foliis lance- 
olatis. Amcen. Acad. 2. p. 140. Milkwort with flowers 
growing thinly and without beards , the point of the keel 
roundijh , a Jhrubby Jlalk, and fpear-Jhaped leaves. Cha- 
mrebuxus flore colutese. C. B. P. 471. Low Box with 
a flower like Bladder Sena. 
5. Polygala ( Senega ) floribus imberbibus fpicatis, 
caule erefto herbaceo fimpliciffimo, foliis lato-lance- 
olatis. Amoen. Acad. 2. p. 139. Milkwort with 
f piked flowers having no beards , an erect. Jingle , herba- 
ceous Jlalk, and broad fpear-Jhaped leaves. Polygala 
Yirginiana, foliis oblongis, floribus in thyrfo candidis, 
radice alexipharmica. Edit. Prior. Milkwort of Vir- 
ginia with oblong leaves, white flowers ranged in a loofe 
Jpike, and an alexipharmic root, commonly called Senega 
Rattle Snakeroot. 
6. Polygala ( Mariana ) floribus imberbibus, oblongo- 
capitatis, caule erefito ramofa, foliis linearibus. Milk- 
wort with beardlefs flowers growing in oblong heads, an 
ere ft branching Jlalk , and linear leaves. Polygala Ma- 
riana, anguftiori folio, flore purpureo. Pluk. Man- 
tiff. 153. tab. 438. fig. 5. Maryland Milkwort with 
a narrower leaf and a purple flower . 
7. Polygala ( Americana ) floribus criftatis, race mo 
terminali, caule ereflo ramofa, foliis lanceolatis to- 
mentofis. Milkwort with crefted flowers, an ereft branch- 
ing Jlalk , terminated by a loofe Jpike of flowers , and 
woolly fpear-Jhaped leaves. Polygala Americana erefita, 
flore purpuro-aeruleo, folio nfiolli incano. HoufL 
MSS. Upright American Milkwort , with a purplijh blue 
flower and a J'oft hoary leaf. 
There are feveral other fpecies of this genus, fome of 
which grow naturally in Europe, and others in Ame- 
rica, but as they are feldom cultivated in gardens, 
it would be to little purpofe to enumerate them here. 
R The 
10 
