Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

WHITE MILKWORT

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Polygala alba Nutt.

Mitchell County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-16 inches

Family: Polygalaceae - Milkwort Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Also Called:

White polygala.

Stems:

Erect or ascending, slender, usually several, rarely branched, angled, glabrous.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, sessile, narrowly oblanceolate below to linear above, 1/4 to 1 inch long, less than 1/10 inch wide, glabrous; margins entire, sometimes curling under; lower leaves often clustered.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, spike-like, 1 to 3 inches long, tapered toward tips, terminal, on long stalks.

Flowers:

About 1/8 inch long, white with green centers; sepals 5, 2 lateral sepals larger and petal-like; petals 3, rounded, united into tube that is split on back and fused with stamens; stamens 8.

Fruits:

Capsules, elliptic, 2-seeded; seeds tiny, dark, silky-hairy.

Habitat:

Dry, rocky or sandy prairie hillsides, ravines, and thickets.

Distribution:

Principally west 1/2 of Kansas.

Uses:

Native Americans used the roots of white milkwort to treat earaches.

Comments:

The name "milkwort" comes from an ancient belief that nursing mothers could increase lactation by eating plants of this genus.

White milkwort