PINK MILKWORT WHITE MILKWORT PURPLE MILKWORT
Flowers pea-shaped; sepals 5, the 2 inner larger and often petal-like; petals 3 or 5, the lower concave, often fringed; stamens 8, united, opening by apical pores; fruit a 2-celled capsule.
Pink or Bitter Milkwort (Polygala polygama) is a showy-flowered milkwort growing in sandy woods in East Texas. It has erect branches with slender clusters of pink flowers about ¼ in. long and horizontal branches under the soil bearing closed flowers which are self-fertilized. It blooms in Texas in April.
White Milkwort (Polygala alba) has densely-flowered spikes of greenish-white flowers, the buds often tinged with purple. A drug obtained from the dried root is used as an irritant. Like the closely related Seneca snake-root (Polygala senega), it probably contains saponin, which will dissolve the red blood-corpuscles. The roots of the latter are used in medicine to produce vomiting and as an antidote for snake-bite. The white milkwort is common on prairies and chalky slopes from Montana to Mexico from April to July.
Purple Milkwort (Polygala puberula) grows in the mountains of West Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. It has much larger seed capsules than the two preceding. The capsule is one of the chief features for identifying the milkworts, being 2-celled and flattened.
SPURGE FAMILY (Euphorbiaceae)
BULL NETTLE
Flowers staminate and pistillate, often borne in an involucre; sepals sometimes reduced or absent; petals usually absent; stamens 1 to 1,000; styles free or united at base; fruit usually a 3-lobed capsule.