Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous perennials, pubescent, the hairs of the stem all incurved or subappressed, leaves and capsules not gland-dotted.

Leaves: Middle and upper leaves dimorphic, the lower ones broader and shorter than the upper ones, 6-12 mm wide.

Flowers: Small, with wing petals greenish-purple or violet, keel petals not crested or beaked, borne in loose, terminal racemes, sometimes few or solitary in the leaf axils, petals united below.

Fruits: Capsule 2-celled, pubescent, thin, flat, dehiscent. Seeds with a small vein-like protruberance near the hilum.

Ecology: Found among live-oaks from 3,500-6,000 ft (1067-1829 m); flowering July-September.

Distribution: AZ, NM, w TX; south to s MEX.

Notes: Very similar to P. barbeyana but has pubescence on the margins and sides of the fruits and wider leaves.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Polygala is from Greek polys, many or much, and gala, milk, while obscura means obscured or clouded.

Synonyms: Polygala orthotricha

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011, FSCoburn 2014