The present paper deals with the history of taxonomy, groos morphology, pollen
morphology, distribution, system and taxonomic treatment of the genus Polygala L. from
China. Three subgenera, 4 sections, 41 species and 8 varieties are recognized in this
treatment, of which 2 sections are described as new.
The system of Chinese species of Polygala L. is proposed as follow:
Subgen. 1. Chamaebuxus (DC.)Duchartre (Typus: Polygala chamaebuxus L.)
Sect. 1. Arillus S. K. Chen, sect. nov. (Typus: Polygala arillata Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don).
This section consists of about 20 species, distributed in the tropics and subtropics of Asia and
Africa, with 7 species found in South China.
Subgen. 2. Pseudosemeiocardium (Adema) J. Chetek et B. Krisa( Typus: Polygala
furcata Royle).
Sect. 1. Villososperma C. Y. Wu et S. K. Chen (Typus: Polygala wattersii Hance ). There
are 3 species in this section, distributed in S. China and N. Vietnam.
Sect. 2. Saxicola S. K. Chen, sect.nov. (Typus: Polygala saxicola Dunn). This section
consists of 8 species, among which P. tricornis Gagnep. and P. saxicola Dunn are distrib-
uted in both Vietnam and China, and the other 6 species are endemic to China.
Sect. 3. Pseudosemeiocardium ( Typus: Polygala furcata Royle). This section consists
of about 7 species, distributed in SW China, extending from Indo-China Peninsula, south-
ward to Malay, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Guinea, westward to the southern slope
of the Himalayas and N. India, northward to Japan.
Subgen. 3. Polygala (Typus: Polygala vulgaris L. ).
400 species or more belong to this cosmopolitan subgenus. Most species are found in
America and Africa, with 18 species discovered in China.
Taxonomic evidence: The characters of flowers, fruits and seeds, the indumentum of
seeds and presence or absence of caruncles are stable and also correlated with one
another. There is a certain combination of the above-mentioned characters in a given
group, which provide reliable evidence for the infrageneric division. A good example is the
Polygala arillata group, grown under the tropical and subtropical forests, which has large,
yellow flowers, with sepals fallen after blossom. The flower has carinas with a cristate appen-
dix, which is of 2-9 long narrow pieces. The seeds are spherical, with a hooded caruncle. Its
fruits are of annuloid stripes. (Fig. 1). The Polygala tenuifolia Willd. group, cosmopolitan
in distribution, has a middle-sized, purple or yellow flower with persistent sepals. Cristate
appendix of carina is usually fimbricate. The seed in the group is oblong or subovoid, with a
trilobate caruncle. Carpels of the fruits of this group are without annuloid stripes(Fig. 3).
The third group, Polygala saxicola group, is between the two as indicated above. The group
has a small, yellow or occasionally purplecolored flower, with sepals fallen after blossom or
sometimes with a persistent outer sepal. The cristate appendix of carina is lamellar or
cucullate. The seed of the group is sometimes with pubescences and hooded caruncles some-
times with hirtoselike villoses and no caruncle (Fig. 2)
pollen morphology and systematic treatments:
The pollen morphology of the domestic Polygala seems to support division of Polygala
L. into three groups as follows: A. Pollen grains subspheroidal, 10-19-colpate, colpi usual-
ly rather wide, relatively psilate in the polar area; B. Pollen grains reniform, 22-26-colpate,
sculptural in the polar area; C. Pollen grains long-spheroidal or subspheroidal, 9-
23-colpate, with long and deep colpi, which usually extend to the relatively psilate polar
area. The pollen morphology is naturally correlated with the morphology of flowers, fruits
and seeds. Based on these, three subgenera and four sections no subdivision in
Subgen. Polygala)are recognized.
