O T II 



O A X 



sublarccolate, three-toothed, or shrubby ; with 

 the leaves of the top lanceolate, subsessile ; 

 and with the leaves alternate, laneeolate, tooth- 

 ed. It is an extremely variable plant. 



The second species rises with a shrubby stalk 

 about the thickness of a man's thumb, two or 

 three feet high, dividing into many branches, 

 covered with a hoary down : the leaves hoary, 

 about three inches long and one broad, cut into 

 many narrow segments almost to the midrib ; 

 these segments are equal and parallel, and have 

 two or three teeth at the end : the flowers are 

 produced on long axillarv peduncles towards the 

 ends of the branches ; they have large yellow 

 ravs ; and are succeeded by oblong purple seeds 

 crowned with down. It flowers in May and 

 June. 



The third has a low, shrubby, branching stalk : 

 the leaves are thick, like those of Sampire, and 

 are cut into many narrow segments: the flowers 

 are produced on short peduncles at the ends of 

 the branches, arc yellow, and the seeds brown. 

 It flowers from January to March. 



The fourth species rises with a shrubby stalk 

 four or five feet high, dividing into several 

 branches: the leaves grayish, placed without 

 order; those on the lower part narrow andentiie, 

 but the others indented on the edges : the flowers 

 are produced in loose umbels at the. ends of the 

 branches, and are yellow. It flowers from July 

 to September. 



The fifth has a strong fibrous root, which 

 shoots deep in the ground, and sends out many 

 woody stems, which spread on every side, and 

 trail upon the ground : the leaves grayish, ses- 

 sile, and of a thick consistence, narrow at the 

 base, enlarging upwards, and broad at their 

 points, where they are rounded : the flowers are 

 produced upon. long] thick, succulent, peduncles 

 at the ends of the branches, and from the axils; 

 they are yellow, the ravs sharp jointed, and not 

 much longer than the calvx, which is cut into 

 i ight equal segments at top ; the disk is large, 

 and the florets as long as the calyx. It is a na- 

 tive of Africa. 



The sixth species has the height (at five years 

 of age) of one foot, with a stem the thickness 

 of a human finger, resembling Sedum arborescent;, 

 and like that fleshy and woody, though never so 

 tall or thick, pliant, covered with a brownish 

 ash-coloured bark, not rough but rather smooth, 

 and having woolly tubercles scattered over it: 

 the branches also have them, and are obliquely 

 curved inwards: the ends of the branches and 

 base of the leaves have a fine wool on them, 

 not conglobated but scattered : the branches 

 are otherwise naked, somewhat woody, covered 



with a bark like that of the stem, brownish green 

 towards the end, more tender and herbaceous ; 

 these leaves come out alternately at short di- 

 stances ; they are oblong, wider towards the top, 

 and blunt; contracted towards the base, green 

 on both sides, somewhat glittering, and as it were 

 mealy, like those of Auricula, flat,thickish, suc- 

 culent and smooth, veinless, with only a white 

 nerve protuberant underneath, and on the upper 

 part a little hollowed next the base. It is a plant 

 that makes very slow progress in this climate. 

 In August it puts out young leaves, which it 

 keeps all the winter; the heads of flowers ap- 

 pear about the end of November, and do not 

 open till the middle or end of January : in sprino- 

 the leaves gradually drop off. and the plant ap- 

 pears as if dead till the succeeding autumn. 



All the species, except the fifth, are natives of 

 the Cape. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased, by 

 planting slips and cuttings of the young shoots 

 or branches during the summer months, in pots 

 filled with fine earth, plunging them in an old 

 tan hot-bed under glasses, carefully shadino- 

 them from the heat of the sun till pcrlectly 

 rooted ; their striking may be promoted by be- 

 ing covered with small glasses. When thev are 

 become well rooted, they should be removed with 

 balls into separate pots filled with loamy mould, 

 placing them in a sheltered shady situation till 

 autumn. 



They should be preserved in a good green- 

 house in the winter, having as much free air as 

 possible, raid in the summer placed in a sheltered 

 warm situation. 



The fifth sort may sometimes be preserved in 

 the open ground in such situations. 



They produce variety among other potted 

 plants of the green-hou6e kinds. 



OXALIS, a genus containing plants of the 

 hardy herbaceous perennial kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Decandria 

 Pen/agi/nia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Gruiiii;/cs. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a five- 

 parted perianthium, acute, very short, perma- 

 nent: the corolla five-parted, often cob erino- by 

 the claws, erect, obtuse, emarginate: border 

 spreading: the stamina have ten capillary fi'a- 

 it.ents, (awl-shaped,) erect; theouter ones short- 

 er: anthers roundish, grooved: the pistilhiiit 

 is a five-cornered germ, superior: styles five, fili- 

 form, the length of the stamens : Stigmas blunt: 

 the pericarpium is a capsule, five-cornered, five- 

 celled, ten-valved, (Jacqu.) five-valved gapine 

 at the corners longitudinally : the seeds are round- 

 ish, flying out covered with a fleshy clastic aril. 



