NAT. ORDER. 



Gi-uinales. 



OXALIS ACETOSELLA. WOOD SORREL. 



Class X. Decandria. Order IV. Pentagynia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx five-parted. Petals five, often connected at the 

 ^ base. Capsules five-celled, five-cornered, opening at the corners. 



Seeds arrilled. 



Spe. Char. Styles equal. Leaflets in threes, obcordate, hirsute. 

 Root toothed. 



- The Wood Sorrel is a small perennial, herbaceous, stemless plant ; 



the root is horizontal, scaly, and of a bright red color ; the leaves 

 grow three together, inversely heart-shaped, of a yellowish green 

 color, frequently purple underneath, and beset with a few hairs ; th6 

 leaf stalks are about three inches long, nearly upright, tender, pro- 

 ceeding from little bulbs, which form a kind of sheath ; at the bottom 

 these stalks are red and round, but towards the top grooved on one 

 side ; the Jlowcrs are white or flesh-colored, and elegantly streaked 

 with red veins ; the Jloioer-stalk is a little longer than the leaf-stalk, 

 and furnished near the top with two oval pointed bracteae, which part- 

 ly surround it ; the calyx is divided into five segments ; these are 

 short, permanent, bluntish, membraneous at the edges, and often spot- 

 ted with purple ; the j)ctals are five, affixed to the receptacle by the 

 claws, which bend a little inward just above where the claws adiicrti 

 together ; they are blunt, slightly crenated, and tinged at the bottom 

 with yellow ; the stamens are ten, upright, and white, the five exte 

 rior the shortest : the anthers are yellow and bilocular ; the s^crmen 



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