| Author | (L.) J.F.B. Pastore & J.R. Abbott | |
| Distribution | Scattered over the Mountains and Piedmont, but only a few Coastal Plain records.
This is a Northern species, ranging from ME and MI south to NC and TN. The range in NC and the East is somewhat clouded by the similarity of this species and S. ambigua in collections. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon to infrequent in the Mountains and Piedmont, and not obviously scarce in the central and western Piedmont like S. ambigua; very rare in the Coastal Plain. This species and S. ambigua are somewhat similar in abundance in the mountains and eastern Piedmont, but the other species is barely known elsewhere in the Piedmont and in the Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | This species and S. ambigua have very similar habitat requirements -- dry soil in sunny situations, apparently favoring somewhat circumneutral soil. There must be some slight distinctions in habitats between these two, but such has apparently not been described. | |
| Phenology | Blooms from June to September, and fruits soon after flowering. | |
| Identification | This species is very similar to S. ambigua. Both are very slender, with some branches, and an erect stem only to 8-9 inches tall. However, this species has most or all stem leaves in whorls of 2-5 leaves, though some upper leaves might be alternate. All leaves are linear, about 2/3-inch long and very narrow. More conclusive is that in this species, the numerous terminal racemes are less than 3/4-inch long, often around 1/2-inch long, and quite narrow. Those of S. ambigua average 1-2 inches long; each has numerous small greenish-white to whitish flowers. In this species, the falling fruit leave the cluster still compact, without gaps; in S. ambigua, the falling fruit are more scattered and the cluster has gaps within it. Each species can be easily overlooked, and you will certainly need the narrow spike/racemes of small flowers to help detect them. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | S. ambigua was often included within this species, as a variety, though most references now have them split as species. To further confuse matters, Weakley (2018) lists two varieties -- var. verticillata, which is widespread over the state, and var. isocycla, whose range in the state is unknown, based on specimen data. Note that because Polygala species were renamed as Senega species in 2023, the varietal names are apparently no longer valid, and thus var. verticillata now becomes S. verticillata var. 1, and var. isocycla now becomes S. verticillata var. 2.
All of the former Polygala species in NC have now been moved to the genus Senega in 2023. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S3 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
