DECANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Oxalis, 323 



connected laterally by their claws; spiral in the bud. 

 Filam. capillary, sometimes combined, erect, the 5 outer- 

 most shortest, and often protuberant at the back or sum- 

 mit. Anth. roundish, furrowed, incumbent. Germ, su- 

 perior, oblong or roundish, with 5 angles. Styles 5, thread - 

 shaped, either longer or shorter than the longest stamens. 

 Sligmas obtuse, down}-. Caps, with 5 angles, and 5 cells, 

 membranous, bursting lengthwise at the angles. Seeds 

 roundish, polished, each seated on an elastic htnic, in 

 fjome species solitary, in others several in each cell. 

 Herbaceous, acid. Moot scaly, or bidbous. Leaves com- 

 {)ound, mosdy tcrnate. Fl. purplish, white, or yellow, 

 inodorous. 



1. O. Acctosella. Common Wood-sorrel. 



Stalks radical, singb-flowered. Leaves ternate, inversely 

 heart-shaped, hairy. Root of many seal}' joints. Stamens 

 all simple. 



O. Acetosdki. Linn. Sp. PL 620. frilld. v. 2. 780. Fl.Br.40\. 



Kngl. Bot. V. 11. t. 762. Curt. Lond.fasc. 2. ^ 31. Woodo. Med. 



But. t. 20. //oo/t. Scot. 141. FL Dan. t. 980. Jacq. Oxal. \\4. 



t.SO.f.l. E/uh.FLOf.\54. 

 Oxvs n. 928. HalL Hist. v. 1 . 402. 



0.\i\bji. RaiiSyn. -^281. Ger. Em. \20\.f. Merr. Pin.90. 

 'IVifolium acetosum. Dod. Fnunent.2\A.f. Fempt. i^78.f. Mattli. 



J'algr.v.]. 191./. CinKr.Epit.58A.f.2. Dalecli. Hist. \'3j5.f. 

 T. acetosum vulgare. Bank. Fin. 330. 

 /S. T. acetosum vulgare, tlore purpureo. DHL in Raii Syn. *2S\. 



In p^rovcs and sluicly places abundantly. 



Perennial. Aj)ril, I\Iay. 



Root of several parcels of flosliy reddish scales, connected by a 

 thread. Stem none. Lcajlcts of a delicate bright green, often 

 ))urplish at the back, drooping at night, on long, hairy, radical, 

 ))urpl!sh fuot-stallcs. Ftoacr-iUdlcs taller than tlic footstalks, like 

 tlicm hairv, purplisli, more or less curved or wavy. Bnuiens 2, 

 o|)posite, considerably below the toj) of each stalk. FL solitary, 

 dnjoping, bell-shaped, either white or purplish, always streaked 

 with Hue branching j)urple veins ; the ptluls adhering together 

 by a little glandular swelling, at each side of their short yellow 

 tiaws. St(n)i. all capillary, as are the styles likewise. When ripe, 

 the blackisli shining seeds are projected to a distance, on the 

 slightest touch or motion, by their elastic lunies, which remain, 

 cuntracli'd and wrinkled, in the capsule. 



This herb is powerfully and most agreeably acid, making a refresh- 

 ing and wholesome conserve with line sugar ; its flavour resem- 

 bling green lea. Few of our wild ilowers are more elegant. In 



V 2 



