Not a very large family, widely distributed; ours are herbs, sometimes
shrubby, with no stipules; flowers perfect, irregular, resembling those
of the Pea Family, but not like them in structure; sepals five, the two
at the sides large and colored, like "wings," the upper sepal forming a
"keel"; petals three, more or less united into a tube; stamens usually
eight and united; ovary superior, two-celled, with a broad, curved
stigma.
There are many kinds of Polygala.
[Sidenote: =California Milkwort=
_Polýgala Califórnica_
=Pink
Spring, summer
Cal., Oreg.=]
A rather attractive little plant, three to eight inches tall, with
smooth leaves and many slender, smooth, woody, stems, springing from
slender rootstocks. The purplish-pink flowers become deeper in color
as they fade and are quaint in form, over half an inch long, with pink
"wings" and yellowish "keel," the petals downy inside and the middle
one curving over to form a hood, in which the stamens and style are
concealed. This plant has the odd habit of bearing another sort of
flower near the root, maturing most of the seed, but without petals,
and grows on dry, shady hillsides in the Coast Ranges.