Polygala paucifolia
(Fringed Polygala)

Other pictures of this plant:


               Seedpod                                           Leaf                                            Stem                                        Seed                                          Habit

Facts About this Plant:

    Common Names: Fringed Polygala, Gaywings, Fringed Milkwort, Flowering Wintergreen
    Synonyms: Polygaloides paucifolia, Triclisperma paucifolia
    Lifespan: Perennial
    Zones: 3 - 7
    Type: Forb
    Bloom Time: May - June
    Status: Native
    Range:

Polygala paucifolia, or Fringed Polygala, is native only to the northeastern United States, the Great Lakes area, and slightly down into the Appalachian Mountains. It is a perennial, which grows in moist, rich woods with acidic soil, and also sometimes in other moist acidic locales, like bogs. It blooms in early to late spring with intricate purple-pink flowers that very closely resemble an orchid, though it is not.

No other species looks like this plant. It can easily be identified by its beautiful pink flowers, its evergreen leaves and its short stature, rarely getting larger than five to seven inches tall.

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