No. 68. OXALIS. 47 



r 



Classify Nat Order of Geranides. Decandria pen- 



taa:vnia, L. 



enus OxALis. Calix five parted, persistent. Corolla 

 of five petals, slightly connected at the base. T.en stami- 

 na, monadelphous at the base, five alternate shorter. 

 Five styles and stigmas, capsule pentagone, dehiscent 

 at the angles, five Tocular cellsj two or many seeded j 

 seeds with an elastic axilla. 



Sp- Oxalis acetosella, Stemless, creeping, petioles 

 and scapes long, filiform and pilose^ leaves with three 

 folioles, broad obcordate pilose, ciliate, scapes uniflore, 

 erect. 



DESCRIPTION. Roots perennial, creeping, white, 

 juicj, with some little fleshy knobs, leaves nearly radi- 

 cal, on long slender filiform hairy petioles, three fo- 

 lioles, subsessile, more or less pilose, ciliated, obcor- 

 date, Inroad, glaucous beneath: scapes similar and equal 

 to the petioles, with two small adpressed bracts on the 

 middle, one terminal flower, white, with purple veins- 

 The five longest stamina equal to the styles. 



HISTORY. This plant is scattered in both conti- 

 nents, in woods, groves, and hedges^ but in America 

 seems confined to the boreal and mountain regions. It 

 blossoms in summer. It has many varieties — 1. Minor , 

 (figured here) with small leaves, not very broad nor 

 pilose, small erect flowers, with obtuse petals* In Ca- 

 nada, New York, New England. 2. Montana^ with 

 large, very broad, and short leaves, nearly glabrous and 

 reticulated, but ciliated, flowers large, erect, with retuse 

 petals, and a yellow spot at tlie base of each. On the 

 Catskill and Alleghany mountains. These appear almost 

 different species, but they are connected by the Enro- 



ean varieties, such as, 3. Cespitosa, Leaves cespitose, 



owers bluish-white. 4. Nutans, Leaves broad, pilose, 

 flowers nodding, smaller, &c. Many other species are 

 found in North America, which have mostly yellow 

 flowers on a stem, except the O. violacea^ which is 

 stemless, and has purple blossoms. The O. sanguino- 

 laria of Louisiana, has yellow blossoms, with bloody 

 spots inside. They are all called Wood-sorrelj are small 

 scentless plants, with a sharp acid tastes, and have all 

 similar properties. 



