Peria-Nankai / Narrow-Leaved Milkwort
Polygala elongata
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Peria-Nankai
Identify Peria-Nankai by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Narrow elongated leaves.
- Confirm flower colour: Purple.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Polygalaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Peria-Nankai.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Polygala elongata
- Genus
- Polygala
- Family
- Polygalaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Among sedges and grasses in scrub jungles
- Habitat type
- Scrub
- Distribution
- India, Sri Lanka, Malesia
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- PurplerecordedPurple or violet
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical)
- Fruit
- Drupe
Characters marked “recorded” are for Peria-Nankai itself; the rest are typical of the Polygalaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Tamil
- Peria-nankai, Periya nangai
About Peria-Nankai
Narrow-Leaved Milkwort (Polygala elongata) belongs to the Polygalaceae family, where it grows as a herb. In India it has been recorded in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and 23 other states. It grows in among sedges and grasses in scrub jungles. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Polygalaceae
Milkwort Family
Peria-Nankai belongs to the Polygalaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Polygalaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
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