Flower:

Spike-like raceme, usually loosely arranged, 1 to 4+ inches (to 10+ cm) long at the tip of the stem. Flowers are short-stalked, pink to rose-purple to nearly white, about ¼ inch (4 to 6 mm) long with 2 spreading, petal-like sepals flanking 3 petals rolled into a column with a fringed crest in the center. Petal-less, self-pollinating flowers (cleistogamous) are also produced underground on short stems.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are alternate, up to about 1 inch (3 cm) long and about ¼ inch (2 to 6+ mm) wide, linear to elliptic to narrowly spatula-shaped, widest at or above the middle, toothless, hairless, blunt or pointed at the tip, tapering to a stalkless base. The lowest leaves may be significantly reduced in size. Stems are leafy, usually unbranched and multiple from the base, erect to ascending or prostrate from the base and rising up at the tip (decumbent).

Fruit:

Fruit is a 2-seeded capsule 2 to 4 mm long, somewhat heart-shaped, broadly elliptic or nearly round in outline. The persistent lateral sepals fold up and wrap around the capsule as it develops, the color fading to pale pink or greenish white. Seeds are up to 3 mm long, variously hairy, with a 2-lobed appendage 1/3 to ¾ as long as the seed.

Notes:

Racemed Milkwort reaches the northwest edge of its range in Minnesota and primarily found from the Twin Cities Metro area through our southeast counties, but scattered populations are as far north as Beltrami and Lake counties. Habitats are sandy prairies, dunes, savanna and barrens. When open, the flowers are near miniatures of the larger and more showy Gaywings (Polygala paucifolia) though flower components are proportionally different.

There are apparently 2 varieties of P. polygama, though they are not universally accepted. In Minnesota, var. obtusata is recognized as present in the state; it is supposedly a northern variety with denser racemes than southern populations of var. ramulosa, but no additional information is available and the density of the raceme being a distinguishing characteristic seems a bit far fetched considering what we've witnessed in the field.