Polygala hemipterocarpa

Kearney and Peebles 1969, McDougall 1973

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Herbaceous perennials, stems to 30 cm tall or more, few, slender, erect, angled, with longitudinal grooves or furrows, not or only sparingly branched above the base, sparsely leafy, herbage glabrous or nearly so. Leaves: Alternate, linear, needle-like, margins entire. Flowers: Very small, white, sometimes with greenish or purplish veins, petals 3 with 2 wings and a keel, these united at the base, the keel crested, fringed, sepals 5, stamens 8, united, flowers borne in narrow, elongate, spike-like and somewhat loose terminal racemes more than 2.5 mm long. Fruits: Capsules thin and flat with 2 cells, broadly winged, the wing scarious on the upper cell. Seeds pubescent. Ecology: Found on grassy or stony slopes, from 4,000-7,000 ft (1219-2134 m); flowering May-June. Distribution: Arizona, Texas; Mexico. Notes: Good indicators for this species are the small white, nodding to erect flowers on narrow, elongate racemes, the glabrous herbage, and the broadly winged capsules of the fruits. Occurring in Arizona in Santa Cruz, Pima, and Cochise counties. Ethnobotany: There is no use recorded for this species, but other species in this genus have uses. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher 2012 Etymology: Polygala comes from the Greek polys, "many or much," and gala, "milk," since it was thought that the presence of some of the species in a pasture increased the yield of milk, while the meaning of hemipterocarpa is Unknown