Polygala furcata Royle

Herbs annual, 5-15 cm tall. Stems longitudinally angular and narrowly winged, branching apically. Petiole ca. 0.5 cm; leaf blade abaxially glaucescent, adaxially green, ovate, elliptic, or ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3 × 1-1.5 cm, papery, abaxially glabrous, adaxially white setose near margin, midvein raised abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, lateral veins 4-6 pairs, anastomosing near margin, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin entire, ciliate, apex acuminate. Racemes axillary, 1-3 cm, shorter than clumps of leaves, densely many flowered; bracts 3, caducous, ovate. Sepals 5, unequal, only an outer sepal persistent, others caducous after anthesis; outer sepals 3, elliptic-ovate, ca. 1.5 × 1 mm, apex obtuse; inner sepals 2, petaloid, obovate, ca. 2.5 × 1.5 mm, 3-veined, base unguiculate, apex rounded. Petals 3, connate in lower 1/2, yellow; lateral petals rectangular, ca. 2.5 mm, apex retuse; keel longer than lateral petals, apex with 2 flabelliform crested appendages. Stamens 8; filaments ca. 2 mm, lower 2/3 united, forming an open staminal sheath; anthers ovoid. Ovary globose, ca. 0.75 mm in diam.; style gradually broadening from base toward apex, apex slightly curved, pincerlike; stigma on lower lobes. Capsule suborbicular, shorter than wide, ca. 2.5 mm wide, base with a persistent outer sepal, winged, apex retuse, not mucronate, wing gradually broadened from base toward apex. Seeds black, ovoid, ca. 1 mm in diam., white pubescent; strophiole decurrent, slightly lobed. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

Himalaya (Mussouree to Bhutan), India, Burma, W. China.

Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Myanmar, Nepal].

600-1700 m

Forests, sides of rocks, grasslands at roadsides; 1300-1600 m.

Heterosamara furcata (Royle) Paiva; Polygala glaucescens Wallich ex Royle; Salomonia seguinii H. Léveillé.