Polygala
milkwort, the typical genus of Polygalacex. Flowers irregular. Two inner sepals wing-shaped and petaloid; stamens combined by their claws with the filaments, the lower one keeled. Ovary two-celled, two-seeded, seeds downy, crested at the hilum.
Known species 200, from temperate and tropical countries. Three are British. infusion P. rubella, a native North America, very bitter, is used in small doses as a tonic and stimulant, and in larger ones as a diaphoretic.
The American P. senega is snake root.
P. chamæbuxus from Europe, P. sanguinea and P. purpurea from North America, P. paniculata from the West Indies, P. serpentaria from the Cape, and P. crotalarioides from the Himalayas, are emetic, purgative, and diuretic. P. poaya from Brazil, P. glandulosa, and P. scopario from Mexico, are emetic.
P. thesioides, from Chile, is diuretic.
P. tinctoria, from Arabia, is there used in dyeing, and the Javanese P. venenosa is poisonous.