GERANIACE.E. 213 



removing iron stains ; but since the manufacture of oxalic acid from other sources it is 

 seldom used. The leaves of the Wood Sorrel have been eaten in Ireland from time 

 immemorial as a salad in the spring, and a decoction of these leaves in whey is used in 

 the Hebrides for putrid fevers ; infused in water they form an agreeable cooling drink 

 in all febrile disorders, and a conserve made of the leaves beaten up with sugar is 

 recommended for the same purpose. Beddoes and Withering recommended the plant, 

 " wrapped in a cabbage-leaf and macerated in warm ashes until reduced to a pulp," as 

 an application to scrofulous ulcers. These are, however, but household remedies, and 

 we do not find that the virtues of the little plant are sufficient to secure for it a place 

 in the " Materia Medica." The Wood Sorrel approaches the nearest of all our native 

 plants to a sensitive plant, not only closing its petals and foUling its bright green leaves 

 at sunset aud with every change of atmosphere, but even if the stem be rudely or 

 repeatedly struck. In a flower-saucer or pan covered with a glass shade this pretty 

 plant forms a charming object ; and we have frequently seen it blossoming year after 

 year in a Wardian case or under a hand-glass, covering the space given to it with its 

 delicate white blossoms. An old Welsh proverb says ; — 



" Three things let no one trust such as shall dislike them, — 

 The scent of trefoils, the taste of milk, the song of birds." 



SPECIES II.— O XALIS CORNICULATA. Limi. 



Plate CCCXI. 



O. corniculiita, Linn.; et O. villosa, J/. B. Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et llelv. Vol. V. Oxal. 

 Tab. CXCIX. Figs. 489G, 4897. 



Annual or biennial, without stolons. Stems much branched, 

 with the branches procumbent, rooting at the base. Leaves 

 all on the stem, with oblong adnate stipules at the base. 

 Lamina trifoliate. Peduncles axillary, 2- (rarely 3-) flowered. 

 Bracts lanceolate-linear. Petals twice as long as the calyx. 

 Fruit pedicels deflexed, hooked upwards at the apex, so that the 

 capsule is nearly parallel to the peduncle. Capsixle densely 

 downy, cylindrical-prismatic, pyramidal at the apex; each cell 

 with numerous transversely-ribbed seeds. Stem, peduncles, 

 pedicels, sepals, leafstalks, and edges and midribs of the leaflets 

 pubescent. 



By roadsides and on banks and cultivated ground. Rare ; 

 probably only indigenous in Cornwall and Devonshire, if even 

 there. It has, however, been reported from Dorsetshire, Isle of 

 Wight, Middlesex, Gloucestershu'e, Lanarkshire, and Stirlingshire. 



England, [Scotland]. Annual or Biennial. Spring to Autumn. 



Stems numerous, diffusely branched, at first ascending, but at 

 length quite procumbent and rooting at the base. Leaves alter- 

 nate, or the upper ones imperfectly whorled, on peduncles 1 to 3 



