12 
Dicotyledons with Polypetalous Flowers . 
Natural Order 
POLYGALACEiE. Tab. to. 
D iagnosis. —Herbs, often wiry, or undershrubs, with alternate simple 
leaves. Flowers irregular. Stamens hypogynous, 8 or rarely fewer, mona- 
delphous. Pistil syncarpous. Ovary 2-celled, with one ovule in each cell. 
Distribution.— Widely dispersed through the temperate and warmer regions of the Globe. The 
cosmopolitan and only European genus, Milkwort (. Poly gala ), includes about half of the Natural Order. 
The Rhatanys ( Krameria ) of South America closely connect the Order with Leguminosse. 
One British Genus ; Species, 3. 
Flowers usually racemose in Milkwort. 
Sepals 5, distinct, unequal; two inner much larger, petal-like, often persistent, called wings (alee). 
PETALS in Milkwort 3 ; the central one concave or hooded, called the keel (carina), often crested at the apex ; 
each singly adnate below to the open sheath of stamens ; two posterior petals usually suppressed. 
Anthers i -celled by obliteration of the connective of an originally 2-celled anther, and dehiscing by a pore in 
Milkwort. 
Fruit usually a compressed 2-seeded capsule. 
USES, &c.—Polygalaceae are generally characterised by bitterness and acridity. Several species of the genus 
Milkwort are employed in medicine. The astringent Rhatany-root is derived from a South American Krameria . 
One or two beautiful species of Milkwort from the Cape of Good Hope are commonly cultivated in greenhouses. 
