Common Milkwort
Encyclopedia
Polygala vulgaris, known as the Common Milkwort, is a herbaceous
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 perennial plant of the genus Polygala
Polygala
Polygala is a genus of about 500 species of flowering plants belonging to the family Polygalaceae, commonly known as milkwort or snakeroot...

 belonging to the Polygalaceae
Polygalaceae
The Polygalaceae or Milkwort family is a family of flowering plants in the order Fabales. They have a near-cosmopolitan range, with about 17 genera and 900–1,000 species of herbs, shrubs and trees...

 family.

Description

The biological form of Polygala vulgaris is hemicryptophyte scapose
Glossary of botanical terms
Many of the terms used in Wikipedia glossaries are already defined and explained within Wikipedia itself. However, lists like the following indicate where new articles need to be written and are also useful for looking up and comparing large numbers of terms together.This glossary is incomplete;...

, as its overwintering buds are situated just below the soil surface and the floral axis is more or less erect with a few leaves.

Polygala vulgaris reaches on average 7–35 cm (2.8–13.8 ) in height. The stems have many branches and are woody at the base. It has alternating pointed leaves, almost glabrous, 2 to 4 mm wide and 10 to 20 mm long. Basal leaves are spatulate, with rounded apex, while the upper leaves are lanceolate.

The flowers are gathered in long terminal inflorescences. The color of the corolla varies between blue and violet, it can rarely occurs purple forms. The flower's outer three sepals are normally small, green and insignificant, while the inner two sepals are bigger. The inner sepals are usually shorter than the petals. The stalks of the eight stamens are joined together to form a tube, and united with this tube, one on either side, are two tiny petals. On the lower side of the flower lies the third petal; it too, is joined to the stamen tube, but it is larger, and fringed. The flowering period extends from May through July.

Common Milkwort is quite similar to the Heath Milkwort (Polygala serpyllifolia
Polygala serpyllifolia
Polygala serpyllifolia is a native perennial of heaths and grassy places. Height to 25 cm. The lower leaves are in opposite pairs. Flowers May to August....

), but in this species the inner sepals are usually longer than the petals. The Heath Milkwort Polygala serpyllifolia can be all the same colours except for white. These four possible colours account for the milkworts' Irish folk-name of 'four sisters'.

Distribution

This species is widespread in Europe, in Asia up to Japan and in USA (Oregon and Michigan).

Habitat

Common milkwort grows in meadows, slopes, edges of forests, heaths, sunny woods, dunes and grasslands. It is frequent in patches on calcerous grassland, from sea level up to 2200 meters.

Culture

In Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, it was called Freya
Freya
In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot driven by two cats, owns the boar Hildisvíni, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother...

's hair, but after the introduction of Christianity, it was renamed after the Virgin Mary.

Medicinal uses

According to Classical and Renaissance writers common milkwort was used medicinally as an infusion to increase the flow of a nursing mother's milk.

Subspecies

  • Polygala vulgaris subsp. alpestris (Reichenb.) Rouy & Fouc. [= Polygala alpestris Reichenb. ]
  • Polygala vulgaris subsp. comosa (Schkuhr) C$elak. [= Polygala comosa Schkuhr ]
  • Polygala vulgaris subsp. rosea [= Polygala nicaeensis subsp. caesalpini Bubani ]
  • Polygala vulgaris subsp. nicaeensis (Koch) Rouy & Fouc. [= Polygala nicaeensis Koch ]
  • Polygala vulgaris subsp. calliptera (Le Grand) Rouy & Fouc. [= Polygala vulgaris subsp. calliptera L. ]
  • Polygala vulgaris var. calliptera Le Grand [= Polygala vulgaris subsp. calliptera (Le Grand) Rouy & Fouc. ]
  • Polygala vulgaris subsp. collina (Reichenb.) Borbás [= Polygala vulgaris subsp. collina L. ]

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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