Fish's milkwort is a slender-stemmed perennial shrub that grows usually 3' to 4' high in shaded rocky places in canyons, and in chaparral and oak woodlands to about 3000'. The many green stems are decumbent to erect with simple, alternate, elliptic-ovate leaves about 1-1/4" long on short stems.  The flowers range in color from a light lavender to a darker red-purple, and each contains five sepals and three petals.  The two lateral sepals are enlarged and petaloid, and the petals consist of two narrow wings on either side of a boatlike keel.  Fish's milkwort is uncommon, blooming from June to August, and may be found in the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges reaching its northern limit in the Santa Monica Mts.  These pictures were taken along the Back-
bone Trail and at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Polygala 2) cornuta 3) fishiae.
Pronunciation: pol-IG-al-a kor-NOO-ta FISH-ee-ee.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.