Cross-Leaved
Milkwort,
Drumheads
Polygala cruciata
Family Polygalaceae

Characteristics:
* Flower heads dense, oblong, purplish to greenish white.
* Leaves narrow, in whorls of 4, forming crosses.
* Height: 4-12".

Natural History:
* Flowers July - October.
* Habitat: Sandy soils, bogs, marsh edges and pinelands.
* Range: Maine to the southern United States, west to Minnesota and Ohio.
* Native.

Connections!
* "Polygala cruciata, cross-leaved polygala, in the meadow behind Trillium Woods and the railroad. This is rare and new to me. It has a very sweet, but as it were intermittent, fragrance, as of a checkerberry and mayflower combined."
-Henry David Thoreau, 1851