96 RUTACE^E. Qxalis. 



4. OXALIS, Linn. WOOD-SORREL. 



Flowers regular, the parts in fives : sepals imbricated. Stamens 10 ; the filaments 

 somewhat dilated and united below. Glands none. Capsule columnar or ovoid, 

 beaked with the short style, 5-celled, loculicidal ; the valves remaining attached by 

 the partitions to the axis. Seeds two to several in each cell, pendulous, the outer 

 fleshy aril-like coat at length splitting and elastically recurved upon the rhaphe. 

 Low, often acaulescent, with a sour watery juice ; leaves alternate, mostly digitate- 

 trifoliolate (leaflets obcordate), rarely stipulate ; peduncles umbellately or cymosely 

 few- many-flowered. 



A genus of perhaps 200 species, chiefly natives of sub-tropical America and S. Africa, with a 

 few in temperate regions. Of the 10 species of the United States only one is peculiar to the 

 Pacific Coast. 



1. O. Oregana, Nutt. Acaulescent, more or less rusty -villous ; rootstock creep- 

 ing : leaflets broadly obcordate, 1 to 1| inches broad ; petioles 2 to 8 inches long : 

 scapes equalling or exceeding the leaves, 2-bracted near the top, mostly 1-flowered : 

 petals oblong-obovate, 9 to 12 lines long, white or rose-colored, often veined with 

 purple : capsule linear, 9 lines long ; cells about 6-seeded. Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 

 211. 0. Acetosella, Hook. Fl. i. 118, in part. 



Shady woods near the coast, from Santa Cruz to Washington Territory. With the habit of 



0. Acetosella, of the Eastern States and the Old World, which however is a smaller plant, with 

 smaller flowers, and an ovoid few-seeded capsule. 



2. O. corniculata, Linn. Annual, or perennial by running rootstocks, usually 

 more or less villous : stems slender, branching, erect or ascending, 3 inches to 3 feet 

 high : leaflets usually deeply obcordate. very variable in size ; petioles slender, with 

 small villous stipules : peduncles with two or more flowers, elongated : petals yellow, 

 4 to 6 lines long : capsule erect in fruit, linear, half an inch to an inch long, many- 

 seeded. 



Dry places, Oregon to Mexico, most common south of Santa Barbara. The species is widely 

 distributed round the world, everywhere very variable, and has received numerous names. The 

 common species in the Atlantic States, without stipules (0. stricta, Linn.), is now generally 

 considered a mere variety. 



ORDER XXV. RUTACE.2E. 



Pellucid or glandular-dotted aromatic leaves, along with definite hypogynous 

 stamens and definite usually few seeds, distinguish this order ; although some of the 

 Orange-tribe have numerous stamens. Flowers generally regular and symmetrical. 

 Sepals and petals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud. Stamens as many or twice as 

 many as the petals, distinct, inserted outside of a hypogynous disk. Seeds ana- 

 tropous or amphitropous, with a little or no albumen. Leaves either simple or 

 compound ; stipules none. 



A large order of trees, shrubs, or herbs ; the latter not very numerous and mainly of the warm- 

 temperate parts of the northern hemisphere and in the Old World ; the great bulk of the rest of 

 the order South African and Australian, a moderate number American, the Orange tribe mainly 

 Asiatic. The glands or dots in the foliage, &c., contain aromatic volatile oil, which in Rue, 

 Prickly Ash, and the like, isveiy pungent or acrid. Oranges, lemons, citrons, limes, &c., are 

 the most important products. One of our genera, Cneoridium, peculiar to the State, is referred 

 to the Simambacece, a related order not otherwise represented in California. But, having dotted 

 leaves, it may as well be kept here. The two other plants represent different tribes of the 

 order. 



1. Ptelea. Leaves 3-foliolate. Fruit orbicular, indehiscent, broadly winged. Stamens 4 or 5. 



2. Thamnosma. Leaves simple, alternate. Fruit a 2-lobed coriaceous capsule. Stamens 8. 



3. Cneoridium. Leaves simple, opposite. Fruit a fleshy globular drupe. Stamens 4 or 8. 



