Egg-leaf milkwort

Polygala ovatifolia A. Gray, Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 3(5): 39. 1852

Herbs or subshrubs, 0.5–3 dm. Stems erect to decumbent, hairs spreading. Leaves: petiole to 2 mm; blade ovate to ovate-oblong or elliptic, (5–)12–30 × 6–13 mm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces not translucent-punctate, hairs spreading. Inflorescences terminal or leaf-opposed, racemes, loose, (1–)2–6.5(–8) × 1.5–2.5 cm; peduncle 0.5–2 cm; bracts ovate or lanceolate-ovate. Pedicels 2–3.5 mm, pubescent. Flowers yellow, wings greenish, 5–8 mm; sepals ovate-lanceolate, 3 mm; wings broadly elliptic to ovate, 4–5 × 3–4 mm, pubescent; keel 6–7.5 mm, pubescent. Capsules subglobose to broadly oblong, 8.5–13 × 8–12 mm, not translucent-punctate, glabrous and ciliolate. Seeds 4 mm; aril 1–1.5 mm, lobes to 1/3 length of seed. 2n = 56–60.

Flowering (early spring–)spring–summer(–late fall). Rocky slopes in dry scrub or grasslands; 500–1600 m; Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León).

Hebecarpa ovatifolia is common in southwestern Texas in Tamaulipan thorn scrub and, rarely, oak-juniper woodlands of the western Edwards Plateau.