Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
Sept.,  1889. 
Origin  of  False  Senega  Root. 
451 
In  regard  to  the  specimen  plant,  Professor  Sereno  Watson  writes : 
-"The  Polygala  sent  must  be  P.  alba,  the  root  of  Avhich  varies  con- 
siderably in  its  character."  Professor  Thos.  C.  Porter  writes:  "The 
Kansas  Polygala  has  all  the  characters  of  P.  alba,  Nuttall.  In  the 
specimens  of  our  herbarium,  from  a  number  of  widely  different  sta- 
tions, some  have  roots  fully  as  large  as  that  of  yours.  The  species  is 
somewhat  variable  and  includes  P.  Beyrichii,  T.  &  G." 
The  original  description  of  the  plant  as  given  by  Nuttall  in  1818 
(Genera  of  the  North  American  Plants,  II,  p.  87),  is  as  follows: 
P.  alba.  Perennial ;  flowers  cristate  ;  stem  simple ;  leaves  alternate, 
linear,  re  volute  on  the  margin  ;  flowers  racemosely  spiked  ;  spike 
long  pedunculate,  bracts  deciduous;  wings  of  the  calyx  rounded, 
about  the  length  of  the  corolla.  Hab.  :  On  the  plains  of  the  Mis- 
souri, common,  and  the  only  species  of  the  genus  in  the  upper  part  of 
Louisiana.  Obs. :  A  small  plant  scarcely  more  than  six  inches  high, 
considerably  allied  to  P.  Senega,  but  more  than  a  variety,  as  it  has 
been  considered  by  Mr.  Pursh ;  leaves  smooth  and  narrow ;  flowers 
and  calyx  white,  nearly  sessile  ;  bracts  lanceolate. 
.  Some  additional  characters,  giving  also  some  of  the  variations  of 
the  plant,  are  copied  from  other  works,  namely : 
Stems  several  from  a  somewhat  woody  root,  erect  or  ascending,  angu- 
lar, at  length  branched  above ;  leaves  linear,  narrowed  towards  the  base, 
acute,  or  the  lower  ones  obtuse.  Stems  J  to  1  foot  high.  Spikes  1 
to  3  inches  long. — Chapman,  Flora  of  the  Southern  United  States. 
Leaves  linear  to  oblanceolate,  sessile  or  barely  petioled,  margins 
slightly  revolute  ;  stem  leafy  half  way  to  the  summit ;  flowers  decidu- 
ous, leaving  the  rachis  roughened  after  their  fall. — Eothrock,  Geo- 
graphical survey  west  of  the  100th  meridian  ;  VI,  Botany. 
The  lower  leaves  are  often  distinctly  verticillate. — Sereno  Wat- 
son, Procs.  Amer.  Acad,  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  XVII  (1882), 
p.  325. 
It  will  be  observed  that  Pursh  regarded  the  plant  merely  as  a 
variety  of  P.  Senega,  and  that  Nuttall,  in  1818,  pointed  out  its  near 
relation  to  the  latter  species.  Twenty  years  later,  Torrey  and  Gray 
stated  (Flora  of  North  America,  I,  131):  "We  have  not  seen  this 
plant,  but  we  suspect  that  it  is  a  variety  of  P.  Senega."  Since  the 
resemblance  extends  also  to  the  root,  the  latter  was  most  likely 
originally  collected  in  good  faith  and  sold  as  senega ;  and  after  the 
difference  between  the  two  roots  had  been  pointed  out,  the  opinion  as 
