Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

WHORLED POLYGALA

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Polygala verticillata L.

McPherson County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 2-8 inches

Family: Polygalaceae - Milkwort Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September,October

Stems:

Usually branched above, glabrous, not glaucous.

Leaves:

Whorled, sometimes opposite or alternate above, usually 4-5; stipules absent; petiole absent; blade narrowly elliptic to linear, .3 to 1.2 inch long, less than 1/8 inch wide, margins mostly entire.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, terminal, open, narrowly cylindric, 1/5 to 1 inch long, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide; bracts subulate.

Flowers:

Bilaterally symmetric, white or green, sometimes tinged purple; sepals 5, distinct, unequal; corolla 1/16 to 1/10 inch, petals 3, wings ovate to broadly elliptic or obovate, longer than or as long as corolla, keel folded; stamens (6-)8, filaments connate, forming sheath; style 1; stigma 1, 2-lobed.

Fruits:

Capsules broadly elliptic, 1/13 to 1/10 inch, margins not winged; seeds 2, black, narrowly lanceoloid to ellipsoid, short-pilose, aril 2-lobed, lobes overlapping body of seed for most of its length.

Habitat:

Tallgrass, mixed-grass, and sand prairies and woodland glades

Distribution:

East 4/5 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Polygala, much milk, possibly alluding to historic belief that plants increased milk production in cattle.

Whorled polygala