Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Polygala virgata
Common name
Broom Milkwort
Family
Polygalaceae
Where found
Woodland, grassy areas, roadsides, disturbed sites, coastal dunes, and wetlands. Coastal. Sydney area away from the coast.
Notes
Introduced shrub, usually to 3 m high. At least the lower branches more or less leafless and with knobbly scars from fallen leaves. Stems sparsely hairy. Leaves, when present, alternating up the stems, 0.8–5 cm long, 1–5 mm wide, sparsely hairy. Flowers purple to pale mauve or pink, with 3 petals in the middle of the flower, the largest looking like the keel of a pea flower, with 2 finely branched structures 4–5 mm long at its tip, and 2 coloured sepals that look like the wings of pea flower, each 10–15 mm long. Keel pink, with a darker blotch at the tip. Flowers in elongated clusters 4–15 cm long, often forming large branched clusters. Flowering: July–November
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Polygala~virgata (accessed 1 February, 2021)
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