Polygala verticillata.David G. Smith.www.delawarewildflowers.org. (accessed 4/2014).

Polygala verticillata is an annual herb to 40 cm tall, branches divergent. 

Leaves in whorls of 2-5, linear, to 2 cm long, to 0.3 cm wide. 

Polygala verticillata. Zihao Wang, Pelham Bay Park, Bronx, NYC, 9/2017

Flowers white or greenish, with pink markings, small, irregular (somewhat pea-flower-shaped), sepals 5, petals 3, fused below, one larger than other two, fringed; inflorescence of opposite or whorled dense, cylindrical to conical racemes. 

Fruit a capsule, seeds with an aril (possibly ant dispersed). 

Wetland status: UPL. 

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent. 

Origin: Native. 

Habitat: Moist sandy soil.