Plant Name
Scientific Name: Polygala macradenia
Common Names: Glandleaf Milkwort, Gland-leaf Milkwort, Purple Milkwort
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Subshrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland. This non-showy wildflower grows in open areas in rocky, often limestone soil.
Flower Color: Purple
Flowering Season: Late spring, Summer, Early Fall
Height: Up to 8 inches (21 cm) tall
Description: The tiny, winged flowers have 2 purple, petal-like, round-tipped, projecting, lateral sepals and a central tube of fused, white and yellow petals. This unusual flower shape is typical of Polygala species. The flowers are followed by hairy, gland-dotted, oblong to narrowly egg-shaped seed capsules. The leaves are small, thick, green, densely hairy, gland-dotted, and oblong, narrowly egg-shaped, to broadly lance-shaped. The numerous, crowded stems are densely leafy, ascending to erect, green and densely hairy near the tips, and brown, woody, and shrub-like at the base of the plant.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Polygalales
Family: Polygalaceae – Milkwort family
Genus: Polygala L. – polygala
Species: Polygala macradenia A. Gray – glandleaf milkwort
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