Species
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Polygala myrtifolia L.

Myrtle-Leaf Milkwort, Myrtle-leaf milkwort (EN), September Bush, butterfly-bush

Climate known 74 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Polygala myrtifolia, the myrtle-leaf milkwort, is an evergreen 2–4 m tall South African shrub or small tree found along the southern and south-eastern coasts, from near Clanwilliam in the Western Cape to KwaZulu-Natal. It is a fast-growing pioneer plant, a typical fynbos component, and may be found on dunes, rocky places, along forest margins, beside streams, and in open grassland. It belongs to the milkwort family of Polygalaceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Polygala myrtifolia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Polygala

Polygala is a large genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Polygalaceae. They are commonly known as milkworts or snakeroots. The genus is distributed widely throughout much of the world in temperate zones and the tropics. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Polygala”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Polygalaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal +2
Wild records
484 in range· 142 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Feb, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
575mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Apr 60 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–48DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (January to June and September to October in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 575 mm a year, wettest April at 60 mm, driest February at 39 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 48 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 8.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Polygala amoena Thunb.; Polygala clutioides Burch.; Polygala clutioides Burch. ex DC.; Polygala cluytioides Burch.; Polygala cluytioides Burch. ex DC. and 26 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (January to June and September to October in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (414 mm of 575 mm) takes 8 months, March to April and July to December. Mean temperature moves 7.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: January to June and September to October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 575 mm a year, wettest April at 60 mm, driest February at 39 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

575 mm a year at the habitat, 414 mm of it March to April and July to December. Wettest month April at 60 mm, driest February at 39 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 410 mm to 1051 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 48 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 8.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 8.3 °C, the absolute minimum 6.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 23.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 9.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 4.3 °C to 12.9 °C), warmest day 24.8 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 17 °C in Jul to 25 °C in Feb; mean night from 10 °C in Jul to 17 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 575 mm of rain a year, most in Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 264 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 6.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 23.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°23.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)6.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 17–48RH 56–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 264 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C24 / 21–2925 / 22–2924 / 21–2722 / 19–2520 / 17–2218 / 15–2017 / 15–2018 / 15–2119 / 16–2220 / 18–2422 / 19–2623 / 20–28
Night °C17 / 14–1917 / 15–1916 / 14–1814 / 11–1713 / 8–1510 / 5–1410 / 4–1310 / 6–1311 / 7–1413 / 10–1514 / 11–1616 / 13–18
Rain mm41 / 24–12639 / 21–11152 / 28–9260 / 37–8542 / 23–11239 / 20–14343 / 21–15353 / 29–12244 / 23–9260 / 37–10155 / 31–11047 / 26–116
DLI47 / 40–5242 / 36–4734 / 31–3826 / 25–2820 / 19–2317 / 16–2019 / 17–2123 / 22–2631 / 29–3338 / 34–4245 / 39–4948 / 41–52
RH %62 / 56–6463 / 57–6563 / 57–6561 / 56–6458 / 53–6256 / 53–6056 / 52–6059 / 54–6161 / 54–6261 / 56–6361 / 56–6361 / 56–64

Each figure is the median across the 264 grid cells holding the 480 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2485:3977 (-34.275, 18.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 6.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 23.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 264 distinct grid cells holding the 480 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2485:3977 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.50_18.750, lapse-corrected +363 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 436 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Northern Provinces· introduced: Baleares, Corse, France, Sicilia, Algeria, Madeira, St.Helena, Norfolk Is., New Zealand North, California
Kew's description“shrub” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.09, 18.457 · in the densest population, 398 records (82% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 484 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 142 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 63 km away. 1181 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 484 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Polygala myrtifoliaPolygala myrtifoliaPolygala myrtifoliaPolygala myrtifoliaPolygala myrtifoliaPolygala myrtifoliaPolygala myrtifoliaPolygala myrtifolia

Photographs: (c) Sixolile Faith, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Dave Richardson, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) YvettevWijk, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Polygala myrtifolia, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Several subspecies and sequence types are associated with the emergence of Xylella fastidiosa in natural settings in France
Nicolás Denancé, Bruno Legendre, Martial Briand, V. Olivier (2017) · Plant Pathology
Comparison of real-time PCR and droplet digital PCR for the detection of Xylella fastidiosa in plants
Enora Dupas, Bruno Legendre, Valérie Olivier, F. Poliakoff (2019) · Journal of Microbiological Methods
Effects of Water Stress on Gas Exchange, Water Relations and Leaf Structure in Two Ornamental Shrubs in the Mediterranean Area
A. Tribulato, Stefania Toscano, Virginia Di Lorenzo, Daniela Romano (2019) · Agronomy
Pilot project on Xylella fastidiosa to reduce risk assessment uncertainties
María Saponari, D. Boscia, Giuseppe Altamura, Giusy D’Attoma (2016) · EFSA Supporting Publications
Secondary and tertiary pollen presentation in Polygala myrtifolia and allies (Polygalaceae, South Africa)
Christian Westerkamp, Anton Weber (1997) · South African Journal of Botany
An improved encapsulation protocol for regrowth and conservation of four ornamental species
Carla Benelli, Maurizio Micheli, Anna De Carlo (2017) · Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae
Pest categorisation of non‐EU Cicadomorpha vectors of Xylella spp.
EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH), Claude Bragard, Katharina Dehnen‐Schmutz, Francesco Di Serio (2019) · EFSA Journal
New Acylated Saponins from Polygala myrtifolia
Mohamed Haddad, Tomofumi Miyamoto, Clément Delaude, Marie‐Aleth Lacaille‐Dubois (2003) · Helvetica Chimica Acta
Update of the Xylella fastidiosa outbreak in France: two new variants detected and a new region affected
Amandine Cunty, Bruno Legendre, Pauline de Jerphanion, Christèle Dousset (2022) · European Journal of Plant Pathology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 43 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.