Polygala paucifolia (Fringed Milkwort) - photos and description
General: Low plant with bright pink flowers. Stems glabrous.
Flowers: Flowers are solitary, terminal on short stems from upper leaf axils. They have an elongated middle petal with a fringed crest, flowers measured to 2 cm long.
Leaves: Leaves alternate along the stem, and in a whorl or cluster near the top of the stem. Leaves are elliptical, alternate. Leaves measured to 13 mm wide and 2 cm long without petiole. Leaves have small hairs on the leaf margins and petioles.
Height: Height listed in Flora of Alberta to 14 cm, we measured plants to 4 cm tall.
Habitat: Open places in wet forests or bogs, boreal forest.
Abundance: Rare, ranked as an S3 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.
Origin: Native.
When and where photographed: Photos taken June 5th, forest edge of a pitcher plant bog, near Hudson Bay, SK, about 400 km northeast of Regina, SK, and the edge of moist spruce woods, Hudson Bay district, about 425 km northeast of our home in Regina, SK.