Polygala sanguinea
Polygala balduinii
blood milkwort, blood or purple or field milkwort, field milkwort, polygale sanguin, purple milkwort
Baldwin's milkwort
erect, glabrous.
erect, glabrous.
alternate;
sessile or subsessile;
blade spatulate proximally to linear or narrowly elliptic distally, (5–)10–20(–40) × (0.5–)1–3(–5) mm, base acute or obtuse, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces glabrous.
with basal rosette sometimes present at anthesis, sometimes withered or nearly so; alternate;
sessile or subsessile;
basal blade obovate, to 12 mm wide, cauline blade obovate, elliptic, or narrowly spatulate, sometimes becoming linear distally, 3–25 × 1–5 mm, base cuneate or acute, apex usually rounded proximally, acute to obtuse distally, surfaces glabrous.
capitate to densely cylindric, (0.5–)1–2(–4) × 0.5–1.4 cm;
peduncle 0.3–2.5(–3) cm;
bracts subpersistent to tardily deciduous, subulate.
in cymose panicles, ± flat-topped, 1.5–12 × 2.5–6 cm; each stem with (3–)5–20(–40) racemose branches, 0.4–6 × 0.7–1.5 cm;
central one nearly sessile, lateral ones with peduncle to 2 cm;
bracts persistent, lanceolate-ovate.
0.4–1.5 mm, glabrous.
winged, 0.6–1.2 mm, glabrous.
usually pink, purple, or reddish purple, rarely white, sometimes greenish tinged, sepals sometimes pink or white, 4–6 mm;
sepals oval, elliptic-ovate, or lanceolate, 1–3 mm;
wings ovate to broadly elliptic, (2.6–)4.5–6.3 × (1–)2.5–3.5 mm, apex obtuse to broadly rounded, sometimes minutely apiculate, rarely acute;
keel 2.5–3 mm, crest 2-parted, with 2–4 lobes on each side.
usually white or cream, sometimes greenish tinged, drying white to brownish green, corolla usually becoming pale yellowish apically, 3–6 mm;
sepals decurrent on pedicel, ovate, lanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, 1.6–2.5 mm;
wings narrowly ovate to slightly obovate or elliptic, 2.8–4.8 × 0.9–1.7 mm, apex narrowing into apical cusp, 0.6–0.8 mm;
keel 2–4 mm, crest 2-parted, with 3 2-fid (rarely entire) lobes on each side.
usually with flattened, sterile base, cuneate-subglobose, 2.5–3 × 2–2.5 mm, margins not winged (sometimes with raised rim).
depressed-suborbicular, 0.6–1 × 0.8–1.2 mm, margins not winged.
1.3–1.7 mm, pubescent;
aril 1–1.3 mm, lobes usually (1/2–)2/3 to ± length of seed, rarely minute.
0.5–1 mm, pubescent;
aril 0–0.4 mm, lobes absent, reduced to minute scales, or to 1/3–2/5 length of seed.
= 64, 68.
Polygala sanguinea
Polygala balduinii
Polygala sanguinea is the only species of the genus in the flora area with the wings to twice the length of the keel. Late season flowers can have much smaller wings, some as small as 2.6 × 1 mm.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Plants from southern Florida have been recognized as var. carteri, based on their less robust stature and greener, less conspicuous inflorescences (R. R. Smith and D. B. Ward 1976). More specifically, extremes of var. carteri have more or less elongated racemes to 6 cm, bracts usually less than 2 mm, flowers cream to greenish white, seeds more than 0.6 mm, and arils a minute scale or absent, whereas extremes of var. balduinii have dense racemes to 3 cm, bracts usually more than 2 mm, flowers white, seeds less than 0.6 mm, and arils usually 0.2 mm (infrequently smaller). Such apparently distinctive features all intergrade and are not sharply geographically delineable; noting this, Smith and Ward stated that the northern limit of the variety was arbitrary.
Polygalaramosa is closely related to P. balduinii, despite the obvious contrast between the yellow-flowered (green when dry), loosely branched inflorescences of P. ramosa and the white or near-white, more compact inflorescences of P. balduinii. Hybrids occur and have been called P. balduinii var. chlorogena Torrey & A. Gray.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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