Vor.. II] WOOD-SORREL FAMILY. 345 
PAOXALIS: I,, Sp. Pl. 433. 1753: 
Annual or perennial, caulescent or acaulescent, often bulbous herbs, with alternate, basal 
or cauline, mostly digitately-compound leaves (3-foliolate in our species) and axillary or 
basal, 1-several-flowered peduncles. Flowers regular, often heterogonous. Sepals 5, im- 
bricated. Petals5, hypogynous. Stamens 10, monadelphous at base, 5 longer and 5 shorter, 
all anther-bearing. Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled; ovules several in each cavity; styles 5, separate, 
persistent, stigmas terminal. Capsule subglobose, ovoid, or columnar, loculicidally dehis- 
cent. Seeds 2 or more in each cavity, anatropous, with a loose aril-like dehiscent outer coat. 
Cotyledons flat; endosperm fleshy. [Greek, sour, from the acid juice. ] 
About 250 species, mostly natives of warm or tropical regions, a few in the temperate zones. 
Besides the following, some Io others occur in the southern and western states. 
Acaulescent; flowers white, pink or rose-purple. 
Scape 1-flowered; flower pink, or rarely white; capsule subglobose. 1. O. Acetosella. 
Scape several-flowered; flowers rose-purple, or rarely white; capsule ovoid. 2. O. violacea. 
Caulescent; flowers yellow. 
Flowers in umbel-like cymes. 
Stems creeping; stipules usually conspicuous. 3. O. corniculata. 
Stems not creeping, erect or decumbent; stipules usually inconspicuous. 
Pedicels with appressed pubescence, reflexed or deflexed in mature fruit. 
Stems wiry; capsules 4'’-6'' long, gradually narrowed tothe apex. 4. O. filipes. 
Stems stout; capsules 8'’-15'' long, abruptly narrowed at the apex. 5. O. sirvicla. 
Pedicels villous, erect or spreading in fruit. 6. O. recurva. 
Flowers in dichotomous cymes. 
Petals 4’'-5'' long; capsules slender, 5'’-7'’ long; seeds 3/’’ long. 7. O. cymosa, 
Petals 6'’-8’’ long; capsules stout, 3’’-5’’ long; seeds 1’’ long. 8. O. grandis. 
I. Oxalis Acetosélla IL. White or True 
Wood-sorrel. Alleluia. (Fig. 2250.) 
Oxalis Acetosella 1,. Sp. Pl. 433. 1753. 
Perennial from a scaly nearly unbranched root- 
stock, acaulescent, 2//-6’’ high, pubescent with 
scattered brownish hairs. Leaves 3-6, long-petioled; 
petioles jointed and dilated at the base; leaflets 
obcordate, wider than long; scapes 1-3, slightly 
longer than the leaves, 1-flowered, 2-bracted above 
the middle; flowers broadly campanulate, about 14’ 
long; sepals obtusish; petals white or pink, veined 
with deep pink, emarginate or entire, 3-4 times as 
long as the calyx; capsule subglobose, 1//-2’” long, 
glabrous, its cavities 1-2-seeded; seeds ovoid, 
longitudinally grooved. 
In cold damp woods, Nova Scotia to Manitoba, the mountains of North Carolina, and the north 
shore of Lake Superior. Cleistogene flowers are borne on recurved scapes at the base of the plant. 
Native also in Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Old names, Wood-sower or Wood-sour, Cuckoo’s 
Meat, Sour Trefoil, Stub-wort, Shamrock. Yields the druggists’ “‘Salt of Lemons.’’ May-July. 
2. Oxalis violacea IL. Violet Wood- 
sorrel. (Fig. 2251.) 
Oxalis violacea I,. Sp. Pl. 434. 1753- 
Perennial from a brownish bulb with ciliate 
scales, acaulescent, 4’-9’ high, nearly or quite gla- 
brous. Leaves generally 4-8, long and slender- 
petioled, about 1’ wide; leaflets obcordate, minutely 
reticulated, the midrib sometimes sparingly hairy; 
scapes several, commonly exceeding the leaves, 
umbellately 3-12-flowered; pedicels slender; flowers 
8’/-10’7 long, heterogonous; sepals obtuse; petals 
rose-purple, rarely white, lighter toward the base, 
obtuse or truncate, 3 times as long as the sepals; 
capsule ovoid, 2’’ in diameter; cavities 2~—3-seeded; 
seeds flattened, rugose-tuberculate. 
In woods, northern New England to Minnesota and 
the Rocky Mountains, south to Florida and New Mex- 
ico. Also apparently the same plant iu the Andes of 
Bolivia. May-June. 
