1. Polygala incarnata L. (pink milkwort, slender milkwort)

Pl. 495 a, b; Map 2262

Plants annuals, single-stemmed, with slender taproots. Stems 10–60 cm long, erect or ascending, unbranched or few-branched toward the tip, glabrous, glaucous, appearing bluish green or grayish green. Leaves widely spaced, alternate, 4–12 mm long, narrowly linear, 0.5–1.0 mm wide, the margins entire, shed early, the plants appearing leafless or few-leaved at flowering. Inflorescences dense spikelike racemes, 1–4 cm long. Wings 3–4 mm long, narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, pale pinkish purple or rarely white with a pale green central band. Corollas 7–10 mm long, pale pinkish purple or rarely white, the slender fused portion 4–5 mm long. Fruits 2.5–3.0 mm long, ovoid-orbicular, not flattened. broadly rounded to nearly truncate and very shallowly notched at the tip. Seeds 1.8–2.2 mm long, the aril 0.6–1.0 mm long, membranous, more or less unlobed. May–November.

Uncommon, widely scattered in the Unglaciated Plains and Ozark Divisions, as well as a few counties in the southwestern portion of the Glaciated Plains (eastern U.S. west to Iowa and Texas; Canada). Glades and upland prairies; also pastures, old fields, and roadsides.