*Y 



No. 70. OXYRIA. 51 



blue berries. They are all equivalents. Schoepf relates 

 that a woman with the dropsy, was cured by eating a 

 large quantity of berries of l\ Jiondosnm, The O. his- 

 piatcla appears equivalent of Gautiera, but has not yet 

 beea tried as such. 



No. 70. OXYRIA RENIFORMIS. 



m 



Names. Boreal Sourdock. Jr. Oxvrie reniforme. 

 Vulgar. Mountain Sorrel, Welsh Sorrel. 

 ' Classif. Nat. Ord. Polygonia. Diandria digynia L. 



Genus Oxyria. Calix simple four leaved^ two inner 

 folioles larger; no corolla ; 2 to 6 stamens ; two styles, 

 stigmas plumose ; nut compressed, with a broad winged 

 margin. 



^ Sp. Oxyria reniformis. Stem branched erect ; radical 

 and lower leaves on long petioles, reniform, undulate, 

 upper rounded lobed } flowers in slender racemes. 



DESCRIPTION. Root perennial 5 stem a foot high 

 or less, erect, slender, with alternate branches ; radical 

 leaves on very long petioles, kidney shaped, obtuse, 

 thick, smooth, with waved margin; stem leaves alter- 

 nate petiolate, subcordate, rounded, emarginate, sinuate 

 or lobed ; flowers in slender terminal and naked ra- 

 cemes, often geminate, opposite, reddish ; calyx with 

 two outer oblong folioles, and the two inner ones double 

 the size, and obovate ; fruit one seeded, nut-like, wing- 

 ed around, lenticular, wing membranaceous ; stamina 

 from two to six. 



HISTORY. This plant was the Eumex digynus of 

 Linnseus, lately made a peculiar genus by R. Brovra, 

 and very properly. It grows in the North of Europe, 

 and the Boreal part of America, in Greenland, Labra- 

 dor, and Canada. It blossoms in the spring. The 

 whole plant has a sour austere taste, like Sheep-sorrel 

 or Rumex acetosella^ so common in the United States, 

 and the same medical properties. I shall include them 



in this article, 



PROPERTIES. Refrigerant, antiseptic, antiscorbu- 

 tic, subastringent, discutient, diuretic, &c. They con- 

 tain oxalate of lime, and owe their properties to it; also 



