Polygala incarnata L.

Pink Milkwort; Procession Flower

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Pink Milkwort is a native herbaceous annual in the Milkwort family (Polygalaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Pink Milkwort occurs in dry pine or hardwood forests, in open grassy areas, in cemeteries, in prairies, and in lawns. It is an annual with a tap root. Stems are 8-20 inches in height, usually unbranched, green in color, and glaucous. Leaves are basal and cauline. The leaves are sessile, alternate, linear, entire, glabrous, fleshy, and sharply pointed. The stem leaves are well-spaced and scale-like, and are often absent at flowering time. Flowers are produced in dense terminal racemes. The flowers are pinkish-purple in color. Each flower has 3 small greenish sepals and 2 larger petal-like sepals (wings) that are pinkish in color. The 3 petals are united into a long tube, longer than the wings. The lower petal is fringed at the apex. The fruit is a capsule with hairy black seed with a fleshy aril about half as long as the seed.—A. Diamond

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Native FAC- (NWPL)

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