Polygala ramosa Elliott

Low Pinebarren Milkwort

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Low Pinebarren Milkwort is a native herbaceous annual or biennial in the Milkwort family (Polygalaceae). It occurs in primarily in the southern third of Alabama. Low Pinebarren Milkwort occurs in bogs, in seeps, in pine flatwoods, and on wet roadsides. It is a single-stemmed annual biennial with a fibrous root system. Stems are erect, 3-8 inches in height, usually branched only in the inflorescence, glabrous, and green in color. Leaves are basal and cauline. The basal leaves form a rosette and are larger than the stem leaves. The basal leaves are often withered at flowering. Stem leaves are alternate, sessile, spreading, and greatly reduced in size upwards. The leaves are oblanceolate, spatulate, or linear in outline and glabrous. Flowers are produced in flat topped cymose panicles. Flowers are bright yellow, becoming green or brown upon drying. Flowers have five sepals and three petals. Two of the sepals (wings) are larger, ovate, obovate, or spatulate in outline, with acuminate to cuspidate tips. The three petals are fused. The lower petal is the keel and has a 2-parted crest with 2-3 lobes on each side. The fruit is a globose capsule. The seed are densely pubescent.—A. Diamond.

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Native OBL (NWPL)

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