(Vol. 08, 2005-12) Two New Species of Polygala (Polygalaceae) from Western Mexico

Two new species of Polygala subgenus Polygala (Polygalaceae) are described from western Mexico. Polygala mcvaughii is related to P. subalata, from which it differs by its shorter, broader racemes, longer pedicels, and always annual habit, and to P. conferta, differing from that species by its larger seeds and larger, usually ± non-stipitate fruits. It is known from 1200-2250 m in Michoacan, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, and extreme southern Zacatecas. Polygala tellezii belongs to a group of species in which a reduced or no aril and short seed hairs are the norm, and in which a vegetative vestiture of minute capitate hairs is common. This new species is in some ways morphologically most similar to the South American P. exigua, but it is perhaps most closely related to the sympatric P. glochidiata, from which it differs in its entirely alternate leaves and non-uncinate seed hairs. Polygala tellezii is known only from three localities in lowland savannas in southern Nayarit.