Procession flower (Polygala incarnata)
Description
Herbs, whorled or alternate rarely opposite, entire leaves. Flowers lavender, pink, white or yellow, in racemes or spikes, terminating the branches or in terminal corymbs. Flowers perfect, zygomorphic, with 3 small sepals, frequently one of these slightly larger than the others, and 2 larger petaloid sepals (wigs). The 3 petals are united into a tube, 3-lobed at apex, the 2 lateral lobes usually the longer, the center lobe usually lacerate, often thicker in texture; stamens 6-8, united to the corolla tube in 2 rows. Capsule 2 –locular, with one seed in each locule. Seeds dark brown or black, ellipsoid or ovoid, rarely globose, 0.5-3 mm long, usually densely pubescent. The genus has been divided into several genera none of which have distinct characteristics. Orange flowers turn pale yellow on drying, yellow ones bluish green; the pink or lavender ones remain the same color or fade slightly."Glabrous, glaucous annual. Stems strict to slightly branched, the cotyledons often present at flowering time. Leaves fleshy, alternate, linear, 5-17 mm long, setaceous or sharply acute. Flowers in spike or racemes; pedicels 1 mm or less long or absent. Sepals ca. 1 mm long, pink, acute or acuminate, wings similar but larger, 2.5-3 mm long, oblanceolate, pink; corolla tube reddish pink, prominently fringed, 5-6.5 mm long; stamens 8. Seeds black, 1-1.7 mm long; aril confined to base, lobe 1, scarcely projecting.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Fabales
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Family: Polygalaceae
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Genus: Polygala
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