Oxalis cultivated in our Green-houses. 131 



cise knowledge. Aware that errors existed in their nomen- 

 clature, arising from a too prevalent habit among gardeners to 

 attach to a species of whose name they are ignorant, some name 

 of their own, or one which sounds like the correct, I was in- 

 duced to look into the matter, and endeavor to ascertain those 

 species which have fallen under my observation. 



To facilitate the study of plants, the species of which are 

 numerous, it is usual to divide them into sections, by a sort 

 of natural arrangement, embracing individuals most nearly re- 

 lated to each other. I follow, in this paper, the arrangement 

 of De Candolle, in the first volume of his Prodromus Syst^ 

 JVat. Regni Vcgelabilis, p. 690. 



§ 2. CoRNICULAT^, 

 Peduncles one, two, or many flowered ; stems leafy, leaves trifoliate, leaflets sessile. 



1 r\' T , ' , T ) Native in fields and by road- 



1. (J xaiis stricta L. f • , • i j j j 

 r, r\, T • 1^. T > sides; considered as weeds, and 



2. (J xalis corniculala L. i r r.li i^ , a n • 



5 01 little beauty; nowers yellow^ 



§ 3. SESSILIFOLIiE. 



Peduncles axillary, one-flowered; stems elongated, leafy J leaves trifoliate, sessilt. 



3. O'xalis 7'uhella Jacquin. A beautiful species, and com- 

 mon in our green-houses; of a lax habit, with weak long 

 stems, pubescent, and branching frequently, bearing linear- 

 wedge-shaped leaves, sessile, pale green, ciliate; the flowers 

 appearing shortly after it begins to grow; peduncles quite 

 long, each bearing a single rosy blossom, yellowish at base; 

 a small bracte just below the calyx, liable however to some 

 variation as to its relative distance from the calyx, owing prob- 

 ably to the mode of growth, by which the entire peduncle is 

 elongated. Figured in Curtis's Botanical Magazine^ 1031, 

 as O'xalis hiria Jacquin, in which also is a remark that O. 

 hirta, rubella, and a third species, are nearly allied. I have 

 received it from a friend as identical with O. hirta, as sent 

 from some collection in England, with that name. I am con- 

 fident, however, that this is a mistake, and suspect that a 

 species sometimes called 0. pentaphylla, (vide this Magazine, 

 Vol. II., p. 442,) is the genuine O. hirta. Indeed, _from 

 De Candolle's description, there can scarcely be any doubt 

 of this; "floreo lilacini flavo tubo brevi." The genuine O. 

 pentaphylla belongs to the section of glandular-leaved, while 

 O. rubella and the supposed pentaphylla do not. 



