OXALIDACEAE WOOD SORREL FAMILY 
VIOLET WOOD SORREL 
Oxalis violacea L. 
The generic name of the Wood Sorrels comes from a 
Greek word meaning sour, and is applied because these 
plants contain a good deal of the sour oxalic acid. A 
species with white flowers occurs 
in the New England states and is 
used there as the source of “‘salt 
of lemons”? by means of which 
rust stains are removed from 
linen. The family is of no eco- 
nomic importance and most of 
its members are natives of South 
America and Africa. 
This herb is nearly smooth and 
has a bulblike scaly base. It grows 
in rocky places and open woods from 
eastern Massachusetts to 
Minnesota and southwest. 
The blooming season is 
May and June. 
Three to a dozen um- 
bellately arranged flowers 
top the scape. Often they 
are dimorphic or even tri- 
morphic. There are 5 sepals 
and 5 violet petals. The 10 
stamens are somewhat 
united at the base and are 
unequal, the shorter alternating with the longer. There is 1 
pistil with 5 distinct styles, and the ovary matures into a dry 
pod containing several seeds. 
The Creeping Yellow Wood Sorrel, Oxalis repens Thunb., 
is a prostrate, freely branching herb with erect clusters of leaves 
and yellow flowers, 1-6 inches high. It prefers rich soil and fre- 
quents the grounds of greenhouses. The flower stalks are covered 
with very stiff reflexed hairs, and the 5-sided pods, one-half inch 
long or longer, contain many seeds. There has been some con- 
fusion among Oxalis records, so that this species is sometimes in- 
cluded as part of O. corniculata, p. 176. 
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