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42 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [| Oxalidee. 
Nar. Og». XVIII. OXALIDEA, DC. 
Gen. I. OXALIS, Z. 
Sepala et petala 5. Stamina 10; filamentis basi monadelphis, 5 alternis externis brevioribus. Styli 
5, apice capitellati. Capsula pentagona, globosa v. elongata, 5-locularis, 5-valvis. 
This being the only New Zealand genus of the Order (which contains very few others elsewhere), requires no 
description. "The species of this country may at once be recognized by the trifoliolate leaves (like Clover), each leaflet 
of which is obeordate. The genus is found all over the temperate and tropical world, as is one of the New Zealand 
species. Most of them are more or less acid, like the English Wood Sorrel. (Name from otus, sharp or acid.) 
1. Oxalis corniculata, L.; pilosa v. glabrata, caule erecto decumbente v. repente folioso, foliolis pro- 
funde obcordatis, pedunculis 1-6-floris petiolo eguilongis v. longioribus, petalis flavis emarginatis, capsulis 
5-gonis oblongis linearibusve. 
Var. B. stricta; suberecta v. erecta, stipulis nullis. O. stricta, duct. O. Urvillei, O. lacicola, O. pro- 
pinqua, O. divergens, A. Cumn. Prodr. O. ambigua, A. Rich. Flora. ' 
Var. y. microphylla; caule procumbente radicante, foliolis minimis, capsulis oblongis. O. exilis e¢ O. 
microphylla, 4. Cunn. Prodr. O. reptans, Forst. Prodr. 519. 
Var. 6. ciliifera; debilis, procumbens, caulibus filiformibus, foliolis membranaceis ciliatis. O. ciliifera 
et O. tenuicaulis, 4. Cunn. Prodr. O. flaccida, Banks et Sol. MSS. et Ic. 
Var. e. crassifolia; caulibus rigidis cæspitosis, foliolis carnosis pilosis. O, crassifolia, 4. Cunn. 
Has. Throughout the islands, abundant, except in the more humid parts of the Middle and Southern 
Islands. 
I have carefully examined an immense suite of specimens of this plant, from New Zealand and all other parts 
of the world; and having compared all Mr. Cunningham's original ones, I can confidently assert, that that author's 
eight species (included here under one) are due to his not being familiar with the O. corniculata and O. stricta of 
Europe, which vary quite as much elsewhere when they grow freely, as they do in New Zealand. I have enumerated 
some varieties, not because I believe them to present characters of any importance or constancy, but for the sake 
of facilitating the grouping of the forms, which I expect are mainly due to trifling local causes. Under how many 
names this same wide-spread species stands in systematic works of botany, it would be difficult to say; but I find 
that, after studying carefully the limits of its variations in one spot, it may easily be recognized in any other; and 
that without an extended study of these forms, it is hopeless to arrive at any conclusion about it. Most, if not all 
the states made into species by Mr. Cunningham, occur in Europe, as any extensive herbarium shows. The majority . 
of them are found in Australia and Tasmania, and all in America. Its extreme abundance in New Zealand will 
render it a familiar plant to the botanist of that country, who should be very careful in supposing a yellow-flowered 
Oxalis to be anything but this. 
2. Oxalis Magellanica, Forst.; acaulis, pilosa v. glabrata, rhizomate repente squamato, stipulis magnis 
bullatis scariosis, foliis crassiusculis, foliolis 3 late obcordatis subtus glaucis, scapo 1-floro petiolis equilongo 
v. longiore 2-bracteolato, sepalis oblongis obtusis, petalis albis obovatis apice retusis v. oblique bilobis glaber- 
rimis v. ciliatis, capsula globosa membranacea. Forst. Comm. Gott. DC. Prodr. Fl. Antarct. v. 9. p. 253. 
O. lactea, Hook. Bot. Journ. v. 2. O. cataracte, A. Cunn. Prodr. Hook. Ic. Plant. ¢.418. Tas. XIII. 
Has. Throughout the islands, in damp, shaded, and in alpine localities. 
A small plant, 3-4 inches high, with a black wiry branching rhizoma, clothed above with the imbricating, 
flaccid, bullate, membranous scales of the old leaves. Petioles 1-14 inch long, arising from the root or rhizoma, 
