Polygalaceae - Milkwort family

Small trees, shrubs or perennial or annual herbs. Stipules usually 0, but sometimes present and if so, small and gland-like. Leaves alternate (in ours), simple, entire. Sepals 5; two lateral ones often petal-like (wings); two anterior ones sometimes joined. Petals 3-5. Stamens 5-8; filaments usually united in a slit tube. Ovary superior, 1- or 2-locular. Fruit (in ours) a capsule or a samara.

Worldwide: 17 genera and 950 species, ± cosmopolitan, but not in the W Pacific.

Zimbabwe: 2 cultivated genera and 3 cultivated taxa.