Hooker’s milkwort

Polygala attenuata Hooker, J. Bot. (Hooker) 1: 195. 1834, not Nuttall 1818

Herbs annual, single-stemmed, 1–2.5(–4) dm, usually sparsely branched distally; from slender taproot. Stems erect, sometimes laxly so or sprawling, glabrous or puberulent distally. Leaves whorled proximally, alternate distally; sessile or subsessile; blade linear to narrowly spatulate, sometimes scalelike proximally, 4–11 × 0.5–1 mm, base cuneate, apex acute, surfaces glabrous or puberulent, hairs glanduliform (as small glandlike projections less than 0.05 mm). Racemes loosely conic-cylindric to narrowly capitate, 0.7–4 × 0.6–0.9 cm; peduncle usually 3–7 cm; bracts persistent, triangular-ovate. Pedicels 1.5–2 mm, glabrous. Flowers pink or greenish, keel sometimes yellowish distally, 3–4 mm; sepals ovate, 1.1–1.5 mm; wings ovate, oblong-ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, 3–4 × 1.3–2 mm, apex acute, short-mucronate, ciliolate on distal margin, hairs sometimes resembling minute, stipitate glands; keel 2.8–3.8 mm, crest 2-parted, with 2 or 3 entire lobes on each side. Capsules with strongly winged stipelike base, globose, 1.4–2.2 × 1.4–2.2 mm, margins not winged. Seeds 1.2 mm, short-pubescent; aril 1.2 mm, lobes subequal to length of seed.

Flowering summer. Wet flatwoods, low pinelands, bogs, savannas; 0–100 m; Ala., Fla., La., Miss., N.C., S.C.

Reports of Polygala hookeri from Georgia (A. Weakley, pers. comm. as cited in the USDA Plants database) and Texas (S. L. Hatch et al. 1990) appear to be erroneous, as no vouchers are known.