Pink Milkwort

(Polygala incarnata)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: Southern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, South National Technical Center.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Pink Milkwort (Polygala incarnata L.)

Identification: Flowers pink to deep rose, tubular and elongate with a distinct fringe at the apex. Few flowers typically open at any one time, open flowers apical and situated on a clustered head of green, developing seed capsules. Stem thin, whitish. Leaves small, narrow, widely scattered on the stem. Plant 1 to 2 feet in height.

Distribution: Iowa and Michigan in the west to Ontario and New York in the east, southward to Florida, Texas, and Mexico.

Habitat: Pink Milkwort is found in dry, open ground, typically on poor soils.

Flowering period: June to November.

Similar Species: The tubular, apical flowers and the small, widely spaced leaves are diagnostic features of Pink Milkwort.

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