POPULAR FLORA. 



135 



1. Common Flax. Root annual; leaves lance-shaped; flower blue. Cultivated. L. vsifatissimum. 



2. ViHGiNiA Flax. Root perennial ; leaves oblong or lance-shaped ; flowers very small, yellow. Dry 



woods. L. Mrc/inianum. 



22. WOOD-SORREL FAMILY. Order OXALIDACEiE. 



Small herbs •with sour juice, compound leaves of three leaflets, and flowers nearly as in 



the Flax family, but with 10 stamens, a 5-celled pod, and two or more seeds in each cell. 



One genus, viz. 



Wood-Sorrel. Oralis. 



Sepals, petals, and styles 5. Stamens 10; filaments united (monadelphous) at the base. Pod thin, 

 5-lobed. Leaflets obeordate. Flowering in summer. 



1. Common W. One-flowered scape and leaves rising from a scaly rootstock, hairy; petals large, 



white with reddish veins. N. in cold and moist woods. 0. AccioscUa. 



2. Violet \V. Several-flowered scape and leaves, from a scaly bulb ; petals violet. 0. violacea. 



3. Yellow W. Stems ascending, leafy; flowers 2 to 6 on one peduncle, small, j'ellow. 0. slricta. 



23. GERANIUM FAMILY. Order GERANIACE.E. 



Herbs or small shrubs, with scented leaves, having stipules, the lower ones opposite. 



Roots astringent. Sepals 

 5, overlapping. Petals 

 5. Stamens 10, but part 

 of them in some cases 

 without anthers : fila- 

 ments conmionly united 

 at the bottom. Pistils 

 5 grown into one, that 

 is, all united to a long 

 beak of the receptacle 

 (except the 5 stigmas) ; 

 and when the fruit is 

 ripe the styles split away 

 from the beak and curl 

 up or twist, carrying 

 with them the five lit- 

 tle one-seeded pods, as 

 shown in Fig. 334. — There are three genera, viz. Geranium or Crancsbill ; Eropium, 

 which differs in having only 5 stamens with anthers, and the fruit-bearing styles bearded 

 inside ; and Pklargoxium, which has the corolla more or less irregular, generally 7 stamens 

 with anthers, &c. The latter are the House Geraniums, from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 of several species and many varieties. We describe only the wild species of true 



33L Leaf, anil 332. Flowers of WiW Geranium. 333. Stamens and pistil 334, Fruit bursting 

 335. ^oecl. b36 Same, cut across. 



