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Polygala lutea - (image 1 of 5)

Taxonomy

Family: Polygalaceae

Habitat

Sandy acid swamps and bogs.

Associates

Distribution

Along the coastal plain from Long Island to FL and LA.

Morphology

Biennial or perennial; stems often clustered, simple or branched, 10-40 cm; basal leaves oblong-obovate or obovate, 2-5 cm long, obtuse or rounded at the apex, the cauline leaves progressively narrower, becoming oblanceolate, 1.5-3 cm; stems and branches terminal in a leafless peduncle 3-10 cm, with a dense terminal head-like raceme 1-3 cm long and 1-1.8 cm thick; flowers orange, drying yellow; wings abruptly cuspidate, 5-7 mm long, equaling the corolla; fruit obovate; seeds short-hairy; aril nearly as long as the seed.

Notes

Flowers June to August

Wetland indicator: FACW

The flowers are orange in life but dry yellow. Linnaeus would have observed a pressed specimen and thus gave it the specific epithet lutea which is Latin for yellow. Seeds require a period of about 60 days cold wet stratification before they will germinate.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.

The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

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