OXALIDACEAE 265 
1. Herbs; fruit a capsule. 
“ Leaves 3-foliolate; valves of the capsule cohering with the axis. 
1. Oxalis 
2. Leaves pinnate; valves of the capsule separating from the axis to the 
Ritieriin il 228 ee LO A 2. Biophytum 
1. Trees or shrubs with pinnate leaves and fleshy fruits............ 3. Averrhoa 
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1. OXALIS Linnaeus 
Small herbs acid in taste, usually postrate and creeping, the leaves 
alternate, 3-foliolate; stipules small. Flowers on axillary 1 to few-flowered 
peduncles, regular, yellow. Sepals 5, imbricate. Petals 5, hypogynous. 
_ Stamens 10, free, or united at the base, all anther-dzaring. Ovary 5-lobed, 
5-celled; styles 5, distinct. Fruit a capsule dehiscing loculicidally. (From 
the Greek “sour.”) 
Species about 200, chiefly in tropical and temperate South America and 
South Africa, 2 in the Philippines. 
Leaflets less than 1.5 cm long; flowers yellow ...........................- 1. O. repens 
Leaflets exceeding 1.5 cm in length; flowers purplish; cultivated only. 
2. O martiana 
1. O. repens Thunb. Taingandaga, Susocoyili (Tag.). 
A small, variable, prostrate herb, somewhat pubescent with long, scat- 
tered hairs, the stems creeping, up to 50 cm in length, usually rooting at 
the nodes. Leaves 3-foliolate, their petioles 5 cm long or less; leaflets 
obcordate, 0.5 to 1.5 cm long, sessile. Flowers yellow, one to several on 
each peduncle, subumbellately disposed, nearly 1 cm long, the petals ob- 
cordate. Capsules tomentose, subcylindric, 1 to 1.8 em long. 
In waste places, along old walls, etc., fl. all the year; widely distributed 
in the Philippines, ascending to an altitude of 2,300 m. Widely distributed 
in temperate and tropical parts of the world, often confused with O. corni- 
culata L. 
*2. O. MARTIANA Zucc. 
Erect, from tuberous rootstocks or small bulbs, the leaves all radical, 
their petioles up to 25 cm long, ciliate-pubescent. Leaflets broadly obcor- 
date or suborbicular-obcordate, about 3 cm long, often wider than long, mi- 
nutely glandular on the lower surface, slightly pilose-ciliate. Flowers 
umbellate, few to many, the peduncles about as long as the leaves, the 
corolla lilac or pink-purple, about 12 mm long. 
Not uncommon in cultivation, Singalon, fl. most of the year; introduced 
from tropical America. 
2. BIOPHYTUM DeCandolle 
Annukl, erect, small, unbranched herbs. Leaves abruptly pinnate, 
crowded at the top of the stem, the leaflets opposite; petiole swollen at 
the base. Peduncles terminal. Flowers unbellate, small, yellow. Sepals 
5, lanceolate, acuminate. Petals 5. Stamens 10, filaments free, the outer 
5 smaller. Capsule ovoid to oblong, loculicidally dehiscent. (Greek “life” 
and “plant” from the sensitive leaves). 
Species about 20 in tropical Asia, Africa, and America, 2 in the Phil- 
ippines. 
