Polygala cymosa Walt.

Polygala cymosa Walt. Fl. Car. 179. 1788
Polygala corymbosa Michx. Fl. Bar. Am. 2: 54. 1803. Polygala graminifolia Poir. in Lam. Encyc. 5: 500. 1804. Polygala attenuata Nutt. Gen. 2: 90. 1818.
Polygala praealla Baldw.; Nutt. Gen. 2: 90, as synonym. 1818. Polygala aculifolia T. & G. Fl. N. Am. 1 : 128. 1838. Polygala cymosa graminifolia T. & G. Fl. N. Am. 1 : 670. 1840.
Fibrous-rooted biennial, 4.5-9.5 dm. high, the stem simple below the inflorescence, somewhat fistulose, striate; basal and lower stem-leaves numerous, linear or linear-lanceolate, 3.5-14 cm. long, 2-5.5 mm. wide (when emersed much reduced), attenuate at apex, acuminate at base, thin and flat or if emersed thickish, 3-5-nerved; stem-leaves bracteiform, numerous, linearattenuate, 0.6-6 cm. long, 0.8-2 mm. wide, sessile by a rounded base, passing into the bracts of the inflorescence; racemes numerous in a terminal cymose panicle, loosely flowered, capitate becoming cylindric or ovoid-cylindric, 7-13 mm. thick, the axes 2-3.5 cm. long or less; bracts lance-subulate or lance-ovate, ciliolate, spreading, persistent, 1.2-1.5 mm. long; pedicels 1-2 mm. long; flowers yellow, turning very dark-green in drying; sepals ovate-oval to lance-ovate, obtusish to subacuminate, ciliolate, 1.2-1.8 mm. long; wings oval, 2.3-3 mm. long, 1.4-1.6 mm. wide, short-pointed at the slightly inflexed apex, scarcely narrowed at base, 3-nerved; keel 2.5-2.7 mm. long, the crest of a lamella and 2-3 entire or bifid lobes; capsule depressedsubhemispheric, 0.8-1 mm. long, 1.2-1.5 mm. wide; seed subhemispheric, dull, finely areolate, glabrous, 0.8-0.9 mm. long; aril present but very minute, unlobed, 0.04 mm. long.
Type locality: South Carolina. Distribution: Delaware to Florida and Louisiana.

Polygala cymosa, the tall pinebarren milkwort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Polygalaceae. It is endemic to the United States.