128 A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



wide, yellow, in a long terminal spike-like cluster. Fruit dry, 

 its bristles making it cling to clothes with some persistence. 

 July. In thickets. Newfoundland to West Virginia, and west- 

 ward. Fig. 369. There are five other species in the area dis- 

 tinguished by rather technical characters. 



370. Leaflets or divisions of the leaf without marginal teeth. 



(Nos. 371-376.) 



Leaflets 3 Wood Sorrel no. 371 



Leaflets 8-30 Senna Family no. 374 



371. WOOD SORREL. XANTHOXALIS. (OXALIS.) 



Rather weak, often sprawling herbs with branching stems 

 and long stalked leaves. Leaflets 3, without marginal teeth, 

 but usually notched, all arising from the same point, and 

 essentially stalkless. Flowers in lax, few flowered clusters 

 often exceeding the leaf-stalks in height, yellow. Petals 5. 

 Fruit an almost cylindrical, often angled, pod. (Oxalidaceac.) 

 There are about 10 species in the area, mostly distinguished 

 by not very obvious characters. There are related plants 

 at Nos. 505 and 506. The two here treated may be separated 

 thus: 

 Petals usually notched, pure yellow. 



372. Tall Wood Sorrel. Xanthoxalis cymosa. Usually erect, 

 but sometimes spreading, the much branched stem often red- 

 dish or brown. Leaflets broadest towards the notched tip. 

 Petals mostly notched, but faintly so, the flower about j4 ir^- 

 wide. In woods and fields. Ontario to Florida, and westward. 

 May-October. Fig. 372. 



Petals round, not notched, usually reddish at the base. 



373. Yellow Wood Sorrel. Xanthoxalis stricfa. Much 

 like No. 372, but the petals rounded and with a reddish 

 base, making the flower "red-eyed." In woods and waste 

 places. Nova Scotia to Florida, and westward. April- 

 October. 



