2827
POLYGALA vulgaris ß oxyptera.
Broad-fruited Milkwort.
D IAD E L PH IA Octandria.
Gen. Char. Calyx 5-sepalous, persistent, 2 interior
sepals larger, wing-shaped. Petals combined
with the stamens, lower one keeled. Capsule
compressed. Seed with a 4-toothed arillus at
its base.
Spec. Char. Flowers in a terminal raceme, crested ;
wings elliptical-obovate, about as long as the
corolla, 3-nerved, the lateral nerves externally
branched and anastomosing at the apex. Lateral
bracteas shorter than the pedicel,
a. wings broader than the capsule. E. Bot. t. 76.
j3. wings narrower than the capsule.
Syn. P. vulgaris (3 oxyptera. Koch. Syn. FI. Germ.
91.
P. oxyptera. Reich. Icon. 25. h 24. ƒ. 47—49. and
FI. Excurs. 351. Fries. Nov. ed. 2. 224.
P. multicaulis. Tausch. “ B. Zeit. 1821. 11.563."
and Planter. Selectee Bohem.
r j i
A HIS plant has been considered as a distinct species by
Reichenbach, Fries, and Tausch; nor should I have reduced
it to the rank of a variety from any observations of
my own, since I have not observed the proportional breadth
of the wings to be variable. But the accurate Koch has
done so • for he says (Syn.p. 91.), “ alarum latitudo valde
mutabilis.”
Root fibrous. Stems prostrate, spreading, angular.