O X A 



O X A 



The species cultivated arc : 1.0. ..'-, loseila, 

 Common Wood Sorrel; 2. 0. strata, I 



i Sorrel; 3. O. caprina, Goat's-foot Wood 

 1; 4. 0. versicolor, Striped-flowered 

 i ; 3. 0. purpurea, Purple W< 

 I .;, Flesh-coloured Wood Sorrel. 



.c many other species thai may be 

 cuhiva; 



The first has a perennial root, branched, round, 

 knobbed, creeping, with very line librils on every 

 partly white, partly red) having an ovate, 

 . thick, rigid scale like a tooth at the knobs : 

 Stipe partly subterraneous, partly standing out, 

 sometimes verv little, sometimes several inches, 

 then procumbent and striking roots into the 

 ground, toothleted at the knobs like the root, 

 bat hirsute, red, closely toothlet- 

 ed above with the permanent joints of decayed 

 leaves, perennial, putting forth from its top 

 several aggregate leaves and scapes : the petiole 

 jointed, round, s om e wh at hirsute, red, especially 

 at bottom, from two to three inches long, al- 

 most upright but weak : the leaflets subsessile, 

 nLar half an inch long, wider, green and hirsute 

 ■on both sides, shortly ciliate : the scapes one or 

 two, jointed at the base, round, somewhat villose, 

 red, the length of the leaves; with embracing, 

 villose, jointed bractes above the middle : the 

 ealycine leaflets oblong, acute, sometimes bifid, 

 somewhat hirsute, ciliate, purple at the tip, up- 

 right. It is a native of Europe. 



There is a variety with purple flowers. 



The second species has a perennial,, creeping 

 root, round, putting out capillary fibres at the 

 knots, branched : the stems from the root as it 

 creeps along several, roundish, slender, some- 

 what villose, purplish, finally branched, half a 

 loot high and more, upright, but being weak 

 often lying down, annual : the leaves are alter- 

 nate, a lew sometimes opposite, tcmate : the 

 petiole springing from a joint margined in front, 

 round, villose, spreading, from two to four inches 

 long, flaccid : the leaflcts^uhpetiolcd, somewhat 

 hirsute on both sides with decumbent hairs and 

 green, ciliate, scarcelv half an inch long: the 

 peduncles axillary, jointed at the base, round, 

 villose, rpright, about the same length with the 

 haves, bavins!: from two to seven Howers in an 

 umbel, with a pedicel often branched. It is a 

 native of North America, flowering from June 

 to October. 



The third has the bulb ovate-triangular, even : 

 the stipe subterraneous, terminated by an umbel 

 of leaves and scapes : leave> several : the petiole 

 jointed at the base, channelled, smooth, from 

 two to three inches in length : leaflets ubcordate, 

 sessile, green above, bright purple underneath, a 

 third part of an iuch in length ; lobes oblong, 

 Vol. II. 



rounded; the soa| I, smooth, erect, slan- 



der, half a foot in length, umbelliferous: the 



lets of the involucre few, acute, mini 

 smooth: pcduncl Four, one-flower- 



. sometimes villoai . . about an inch in 



length: the flowers of a yellow colour. It i i 

 ii ui\ a'of the Ca| . 



- has an ovate bulb, half an 

 inch long, covered with a black -kin, within 

 which are frequently several bulbs : hence when 

 cultivated it has almost always many sli; 

 these arc out of tiie ground, bave a lew si 

 on them, are round, slender, have a very few 

 hairs scattered over them, are six inches long, 

 sometimes leafless, sometimes having a single 

 leaf at top, when young almost upright, but af- 

 terwards wholly procumbent, terminated by a 

 dense umbel of leaves and Bowers : leaves seve- 

 ral, upright, and spreading a little : petiole jointed 

 at the base, filiform, \illose, from one to two 

 inches in length: leaflets subsessile, wedgc-form- 

 liuear, emarginate, at the edges and underneath 

 appearing somewhat villose when magnified, 

 above smooth and dotted, underneath ha- 

 two orange-coloured calluses below the tip, 

 about half an inch in length : the scapes several, 

 jointed at the base, round, a little hirsute at top 

 with capitate hairs, in other parts with simple 

 ones, almost upright, longer than the petioles 

 and twice as thick ; bractes alternate, approxi- 

 mating, and ciliated at top with capitate hairs : 

 calycinc leaflets lanceolate, acute, erect, ciliate 

 and hirsute with capitate or simple hairs, green 

 with theedges blood-red, and two oblong orange- 

 coloured calluses below the tip connected at top. 

 It is a native of the Cape. 



The fifth has also an ovate bulb, loose, small, 

 loosely inclosed in a skin, from three to six time* 

 the size of the bulb : the stipe subterraneous, 

 from one to three inches long, round, slender, 

 often bulbiferous, terminated by a dense umbel 

 of leaves and flowers : the leaves very main-, 

 spreading or lying on the ground : the petiole 

 jointed at the base, densely villose, pale green, 

 from one to three inches long : the leaflets sessile, 

 quite entire, villose at the edges, quite smooth 

 above, underneath somewhat hirsute and much 

 dotted, always green on both sides without any 

 other colour, half an inch and more in length : 

 scapes several, jointed at the base, round, some- 

 what villose, pale green, almost upright, longer 

 than the leaves : bractes sublincar, sharp, villose, 

 approximately alternate at bottom : the calycine 

 leaflets lanceolate, acute, hirsute, ciliate, with 

 simple hairs, green with blood-red spots at the 

 edges, erect. It is a native of the Cape. 



The sixth species has the bulb in the young 

 plant ovate, covered with a brown skin, twice 

 2 A 



