Purple milkwort (Polygala nana)
Description
Candyroot grows as a clumping herbaceous plant 10-15 cm (4-6 in) tall, more commonly 5-10 cm (2-4 in) tall. Growing from the base of the plant are the spathulate (spoon-shaped) leaves, which are 1.5-5 cm (1-2-2 in) long and 0.4-2 cm (1-4-3-4 in) cm wide. The yellow flowerheads are composed of tiny flowers arranged in racemes, and are 2-4 cm (3-4-1 1-2 in) high by 1.5 cm (1-2 in) wide. They appear from April to June, from March to October in Alabama,and year-round in the Everglades. The seeds are smaller than 1 mm in size. The edible root tastes of licorice.Polygala nana resembles Polygala lutea, which is a taller plant. It also resembles the rare species P. smallii of Miami-Dade County, which has seeds longer than 1 mm.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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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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