OXALIDACE^E. (WOOD-SORREL FAMILY.) 71 



monadelphous at the base, and an S-10-seeded pod, having ticicc as many 

 cells (complete or incomplete) as there are styles ; consisting chiefly of the 

 genus 



1. ttfUM, L. F..AX. 



Sepals (persistent), petals, stamens, and styles 5, regularly alternate with each 

 other. Pod of 5 united carpels (into which it splits in dehisccnce) and 5-celled, 

 with 2 seeds hanging from the summit of each; but each cell is partly or com- 

 pletely divided into two by a false partition which projects from the back of the 

 carpel, thus becoming 10-celled. Seeds anatropous, mucilaginous, flattened, 

 containing a large embryo with plano-convex cotyledons. Herbs, with a tough 

 fibrous bark, simple and sessile entire leaves (alternate or often opposite), with- 

 out stipules, but often with glands in their place, and with corymbose or pani- 

 cled flowers. Corolla usually ephemeral. (The classical name of the Flax.) 



1. JL. Virginian um, L. (WILD FLAX.) Leaves oblong-lanceolate, the 

 upper acute ; flowers small, scattered on the corymbose or panicled branches, on 

 very short peduncles turned to one side ; sepals ovate, pointed, smooth ; petals 

 yellow; styles distinct. Dry woods. June -Aug. Ij. Stem l-2 high. 

 Pods depressed-globose, 10-celled, splitting at length into 10 closed pieces. 



2. JL. IBoottii, Planchon. (LARGER YELLOW FLAX.) Leaves linear, 

 pointed ; flowers racemose-scattered on the cymose branches ; sepals ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, sharp-pointed, 3-nerved, with rough glandular margins, scarcely longer 

 than the globular imperfectly 10-celled pod; petals sulphur yellow; styles united 

 for \ -| their length. (T) (L. rigidum, Torr. fr Gray, in part.) Dry soil, Rhode 

 Island, Connecticut, Michigan to Wisconsin, and southward. June -Aug. 

 Stem slender, l-2 high. Flowers larger than in No. 1. 



L. RfeiDUM, Pursh, may possibly occur in the western part of Wisconsin. 

 L. usiTATfssiMUM, L., the COMMON FLAX, is occasionally spontaneous in 

 cultivated grounds. 



ORDER 27. OXALJDACE^E. (WOOD-SORREL FAMILY.) 



Plants with sour juice, compound leaves, and regular, symmetrical, liypo- 

 gynous, 5-merous, 10-androus, somewhat monadelphous flowers, the calyx im- 

 bricated and the petals convolute in the bud, 5 separate styles, and a 5-celled 

 several-seeded pod. The principal genus is 



1. OXALIS, L. WOOD-SORREL. 



Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, withering after expansion. Stamens 10, 

 monadelphous at the base, alternately shorter. Pod membranaceous, deeply 5- 

 lobed, 5-celled, each cell opening on the back. Seeds few in each cell, pendu- 

 lous from the axis, anatropous, then- outer coat loose and separating. Embryo 

 large and straight in fleshy albumen: cotyledons flat. Herbs, with alternate or 

 radical stipulate leaves, mostly of 3 obcordate leaflets, which close and droop at 

 nightfall. (Name from 6vs, sour.) 



