Tas. 6256. 
OXALIS ENNEAPHYLLA. 
Native of Fuegia and the Falkland Tslands. 
Nat. Ord. Grrantace®.—Tribe OXALIDE&. 
Genus Oxatis, Linn. (Benth and Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 276). 
Oxatts enneaphylla, acaulis, rhizomate crasso repente bulbifero squamoso, foliis 
longe petiolatis 9-20-foliolatis, petiolo basi scarioso-stipulato, foliolis radianti- 
bus glaucis plus minusve pubescentibus cuneato-obcordatis 2-lobis, pedunculis 
petiolo squilongis 1-floris 2-bracteolatis, floribus amplis albis, sepalis 
sericeis villosisve apicibus interdum bipunctatis, stylis hirsutis. 
O, enneaphylla, Cav. Je. vol. v. p. 7. t. 411; Gaud. in Ann. Soc. Nat. vol. v. p.105, 
et in Freye. Voy. Bot. p. 137 ; D’ Urvillein Mem. Soe. Linn. Par, vol. v. p. 616; 
DO. Prod. vol. i. p. 702; Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 494; Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. vol. i. 
pars i. p. 253. 
VinatGreTTE, Pernetty, Voy. vol. ii. p. 54. 
In the Flora Antarctica I have described this plant as the 
pride of the Falkland Islands, where it grows in such pro- 
fusion at Berkeley Sound, on banks overhanging the sea, as 
to cover them with a mantle of snowy white in the spring 
month of November; adding that it is an excellent antiscor- 
butic and agreeable pot herb, though too acid to be used 
except in tarts and puddings. 
When the above was written this plant was supposed 
to be confined to the Falkland Islands; it was, however, 
found in the Straits of Magellan by D’Urville’s Expedi- 
tion, and by Lechler at Cape Negro, also in the Straits. It 
must, however, be a very rare and local Antarctic American 
plant, as it escaped the notice of all other Fuegian collectors, and 
is not included in Gay’s “ Flora of Chili,” where many species 
of the genus are described. There is another Fuegian Oza/is 
closely allied to our English 0. Acetosella. As in the last-named 
plant the flowers of O. enneaphylla are dimorphic, one form (that 
here figured) having the stamens much longer than the styles ; 
while in the other the styles far exceed the stamens, as de- 
scribed in De Candolle’s Prodromus. This dimorphic 
condition, now so well recognised as a common phenomenon 
amongst flowering plants, is subservient to the purpose of 
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