OXALIS CERNTJA. 



Drooping Wood-sorrel. 

 Clagg — Decandria. Order — Pentagynia. Natural Order — Oxalidaceje. 



To those whose acquaintance with the interesting genus Oxalis is limited to our two 

 native species, acetosella and corniculata, it may occasion some degree of surprise to 

 learn, that scarcely less than a hundred species are known to cultivators; but the 

 majority of these are rarely met with except in the green-house. This is the more to 

 be regretted, as they are of the simplest culture ; many of them are nearly hardy, a few 

 quite so, while so diversified are their colours, that it would be easy to select them of any 

 desired tint ; and we may also add, that there is hardly a month of the year in which 

 some one or other of the species is not to be found in flower. If protected from 

 severe frost, nearly all the summer and autumn-flowering species, with a few others, 

 may be successfully grown in the open beds or borders ; but it is of their cultivation in 

 pots, for which they are admirably suited, that we would more particularly speak. 

 Among those usually grown for this purpose, we venture to recommend the plant now 

 figured, not only on account of the early period at which its brilliant yellow blossoms are 

 produced — which circumstance would alone invest it with some interest — but also for 

 their delicious jessamine-like fragrance when fully expanded, and for the elegance of its 

 ternate foliage. There is but one slight drawback— if indeed it ought to be termed 

 such — to its general cultivation: the flowers remain closed in cloudy weather, or in 

 situations where no direct sunlight penetrates; but when a warm south window can 

 be secured for its reception, the blossoms will unfold freely and in long succession. 



As in most of the other species, the root is a small bulb, from which arises a 

 very short underground stem or stipe, to which the leaf-stalks are articulated. The 

 leaflets, sprinkled with russet brown spots, are so broadly heart-shaped that they may 

 be termed two-lobed, which, with its many-flowered umbel, serves to distinguish it 

 among the stemless species. While young, the leaflets are, at the approach of evening, 

 folded back against the petiole, expanding with the return of the morning light ; but 

 the older leaves appear to lose gradually this sensibility to the solar radiations, and 

 remain folded under all circumstances. 



The umbel of flowers, consisting of eight to twelve blossoms, sometimes more, is 

 supported on a smooth peduncle, or, to speak more correctly, scape, six or eight inches 



