VOL. II.] 



WOOD-SORREL FAMILY. 



345 



i. OXALIS L. Sp. PI. 433. 1753. 



Annual or perennial, caulescent or acaulesceut, often bulbous herbs, with alternate, basal 

 or cauline, mostly digitately -compound leaves (3-foliolate in our species) and axillary or 

 basal, i-several-flowered peduncles. Flowers regular, often heterogonous. Sepals 5, im- 

 bricated. Petals 5, hypogynous. Stamens 10, monadelphous at base, 5 longer and 5 shorter, 

 all anther-bearing. Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled; ovules several in each cavity; styles 5, separate, 

 persistent, stigmas terminal. Capsule subglobose, ovoid, or columnar, loculicidally dehis- 

 cent. Seeds 2 or more in each cavity, anatropous, with a loose aril-like dehiscent outer coat. 

 Cotyledons flat; endosperm fleshy. [Greek, sour, from the acid juice.] 



About 250 species, mostly natives of warm or tropical regions, a few in the temperate zones. 

 Besides the following, some 10 others occur in the southern and western states. 



Acaulescent; flowers white, pink or rose-purple. 



Scape i-flowered; flower pink, or rarely white; capsule subglobose. i. 



Scape several-flowered; flowers rose-purple, or rarely white; capsule ovoid. 2. 

 Caulescent; flowers yellow. 



Flowers in umbel-like cymes. 



Stems creeping; stipules usually conspicuous. 



Stems not creeping, erect or decumbent; stipules usually inconspicuous. 



Pedicels with appressed pubescence, reflexed or deflexed in mature fruit. 



Stems wiry; capsules 4" -6" long, gradually narrowed to the apex. 4. O. filif>es. 

 Stems stout; capsules 8"-i5" long, abruptly narrowed at the apex. 5. O. stncta. 

 Pedicels villous, erect or spreading in fruit. 6. O. recurva. 



Flowers in dichotomous cymes. 



Petals 4"-s" long; capsules slender, 5" -7" long; seeds K" long. 7. O. cymosa. 



Petals 6" -8" long; capsules stout, 3" -5" long; seeds i" long. 8. O. grandis. 



O. Acetosella. 

 O. violacea. 



3. O. corniculata. 



White or True 

 (Fig. 2250.) 



i. Oxalis Acetosella L. 

 Wood-sorrel. Alleluia. 

 Oxalis Acetosella L. Sp. PI. 433. 1753. 



Perennial from a scaly nearly unbranched root- 

 stock, acaulescent, 2" -6" high, pubescent with 

 scattered brownish hairs. Leaves 3-6, long-petioled; 

 petioles jointed and dilated at the base; leaflets 

 obcordate, wider than long; scapes 1-3, slightly 

 longer than the leaves, i-flowered, 2-bracted above 

 the middle; flowers broadly campanulate, about %' 

 long; sepals obtusish; petals white or pink, veined 

 with deep pink, emarginate or entire, 3-4 times as 

 long as the calyx; capsule subglobose, i // -2 // long, 

 glabrous, its cavities i-2-seeded; seeds ovoid, 

 .longitudinally grooved. 



In cold damp woods, Nova Scotia to Manitoba, the mountains of North Carolina, and the north 

 shore of Lake Superior. Cleistogene flowers are borne on recurved scapes at the base of the plant. 

 Native also in Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Old names, Wood-sower or Wood-sour, Cuckoo's 

 Meat, Sour Trefoil, Stub-wort, Shamrock. Yields the druggists' "Salt of Lemons." May-July. 



2. Oxalis violacea L,. Violet Wood- 

 sorrel. (Fig. 2251.) 

 Oxalis violacea L- Sp. PI. 434. 1/53. 



Perennial from a brownish bulb with ciliate 

 scales, acaulescent, 4 / -9 / high, nearly or quite gla- 

 brous. Leaves generally 4-8, long and slender- 

 petioled, about i / wide; leaflets obcordate, minutely 

 reticulated, the midrib sometimes sparingly hairy; 

 scapes several, commonly exceeding the leaves, 

 umbellately 3-i2-flowered; pedicels slender; flowers 

 8 // -io // long, heterogonous; sepals obtuse; petals 

 rose-purple, rarely white, lighter toward the base, 

 obtuse or truncate, 3 times as long as the sepals; 

 capsule ovoid, 2 // in diameter; cavities 2-3-seeded; 

 seeds flattened, rugose-tuberculate. 



In woods, northern New England to Minnesota and 

 the Rocky Mountains, south to Florida and New Mex- 

 ico. Also apparently the same plant in the Andes of 

 Bolivia. May-June. 



