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(Last Modified On 4/2/2013)
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(Last Modified On 4/2/2013)
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Family
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POLYGALACEAE
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Contributor
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WALTER H. LEWIS AND OLGA HERRERA-MACBRYDE
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Description
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Herbs, erect or scandent shrubs, or rarely small trees. Leaves alternate, some- times opposite or verticillate, simple; stipules absent. Flowers ~ , ? zygomorphic, usually racemose, bracteate; sepals 5, unequal (slightly unequal in Moutabea), the 2 inner large and often petaloid, wing-like; petals 3 or sometimes 5, declinate, if 3 the lower usually keel-shaped, often appendaged, the 2 upper ligulate or ovate, usually adnate to the lower petal and connate to the staminal sheath, if 5 connate above the middle into a tube and adnate with the sepals, subequal; sta- mens 8, rarely fewer, the filaments connate for most of their length to form a sheath which may split above, often adnate to the petals or corolla-tube (in Mout- abea), the anthers erect or pendent, usually dehiscent by an apical pore; ovary superior, (1-)2-5-locular, the style simple, the ovules usually 1 per locule, pendu- lous. Fruit a capsule, drupe, berry, or samara, dehiscent or indehiscent; seeds 1 per locule, rarely 2, often pilose, usually arillate, the endosperm straight.
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Habit
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Herbs shrubs
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Distribution
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Eighteen genera with over 1000 species; temperate and tropical regions. Four genera are recognized in Panama with Polygala by far the largest. (Keys and de- scription are based largely on Panamanian material.)
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Key
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a. Calyx free, the sepals unequal with the 2 inner sepals (wings) larger, petaloid; petals 3; ovary 1-2-locular. b. Ovary and fruit 2-locular, the fruit a dehiscent capsule; mostly delicate herbs ................ 1. Polygala bb. Ovary and fruit 1-locular, the fruit indehiscent; mostly somewhat woody. c. Scandent shrubs; keel clawed with a fimbriate crest, plicate; fruit a samara with a large wing; lowlands, occasionally cloud forests.... 2. Securidaca cc. Erect herbs, shrubs, or rarely trees; keel neither plicate, clawed, nor ap- pendaged; fruit drupaceous, not at all or only very obscurely winged; cloud forests only ............ 3. Monnina aa. Calyx adnate to the corolla, the sepals ? equal, not petaloid; petals 5; ovary (2-)4-5-locular ................... 4. Moutabea
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