SPECIES DESCRIPTION
POLYGALA VENULOSA
Family and Genus:- See- POLYGALACEAE
Common Names:- Veiny Milkwort
omotypic Synonyms:- Polygala helenae
Meaning:- Polygala (Gr) Much-milk, (reference to the improved milk yield in cattle
fed on milkworts.
Venulosa (L) With fine veins, finely veined.
General description:- Small perennial, woody at the base
Stems:-
1) 5-30 cm, ascending from the woody stock, pubescent.
Leaves:-
1) Altemate, sessile, entire.
a) lower, narrowly obovate.
b) upper, 10-25 mm, elliptic-lanceolate, acute, without stipules.
Flowers:-
1) In dense terminal racemes, lengthening to 6-10 cm in fruit.
2) Pedicels, 1-1.5 mm.
3) Sepals;
a) inner (wings) 6-8 x c. 4 mm, elliptic-obovate, whitish or lilac with green,
branched and =1; anastomosing veins.
4) Bracts, caducous, equalling or slightly exceeding the pedicels.
5) Wings, 7·5-9·5 x 2·5-3·5 mm, lanceolate to narrowly elliptical, obtuse, white or
lilac with green veins, glabrous.
6) Corolla, pale pinkish or mauve, upper petals distinctly exceeding the wings.
7) Style, 3-4 times as long as stigma.
Fruit:-
1) Capsule, 5-6 x 4-5 mm, on a short carpophore, flat, obcordate, winged.
Key features:-
1) Wings, 7·5-11 mm., obtuse.
2) Leaves, entire.
Habitat:- Rocky slopes with dry open shrubby vegetation and open coniferous
woodland, occasionally in olive groves and field margins. 0-800(1200)m.
Distribution:- On Greece mainly restricted to the Aegean area - Also in W & S
Anatolia and Cyprus. Fairly widespread and common on Crete.
Flowering time:- Late Mar to June.
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
