Blue milkwort

Polygala barbeyana Chodat, Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 31(2): 16, plate 13, figs. 15–18. 1893; P. longa S. F. Blake; P. racemosa S. F. Blake; P. reducta S. F. Blake

Herbs, sometimes somewhat suffrutescent, (0.5–)0.8–6(10) dm. Stems usually erect, some­­times laxly so (rarely pro­cumbent), hairs incurved (rarely glabrate). Leaves: blade ovate, elliptic, spatulate, or linear proximally, to elliptic, lanceolate, or linear distally (often longer than proximal ones), 4–45(–65) × 1.5–4(–6) mm, base usually acute, sometimes cuneate or obtuse, apex acute to acuminate or obtuse, surfaces not translucent-punctate, hairs incurved. Inflorescences terminal or leaf-opposed, racemes, loose, 2–12 × 0.9–1.4 cm; peduncle 0.5–1.5 cm; bracts linear to narrowly ovate. Pedicels 1–5 mm, pubescent. Flowers purplish, wings rarely yellow, keel distally yellow or yellowish green, 3.5–6 mm; sepals lanceolate, 2.2–3.5 mm; wings ovate to suborbiculate, 3.5–5.5 × 2.4–4 mm, sparsely pubescent; keel 4–5.7 mm, pubescent. Capsules oblong, oblong-ovoid, broadly ellipsoid, or subglobose, 5–10(–11) ×4–7 mm, not translucent-punctate, glabrous and ciliolate, margins sometimes narrowly winged. Seeds 4–4.5 mm; aril 0.6–1 mm, lobes vestigial or to 1/4 length of seed. 2n = 30.

Flowering spring–late fall. Gravelly or rocky soils, mostly limestone, or igneous or gypsum, arid or semi-arid scrub, open woodlands, chaparral; 400–2400(–2800) m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Zacatecas).

Hebecarpa barbeyana is very similar to 7. H. rectipilis; see that species for comments.