MACLOSKIE : OXALIDACE/E. 



537 



Flowers perfect, regular, 5-merous ; petals mostly showy. Stamens 

 10-15, united at base, hypogynous. Ovary 5-lobed, with 5 styles. Seeds 

 with fleshy endosperm. 



Species 270, mostly tropical. 



OXALIS Linn. 



Stamens 10. Styles distinct. Petals often slightly cohering at base. 

 Stemless perennials, with bulbous or fleshy rhizome ; or caulescent with 

 alternate, exstipulate leaves and axillary peduncles. 



Species 250, cosmopolitan, having many in South Africa, Brazil, Chili 

 and Mexico ; i in Norfolk I., but none reported from Australia, Tasmania, 

 or New Zealand. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 

 A. Leaflets 3. 

 b. Glabrous. 



c. Rootstock thick, scaly. Leaves radical, petioles 12 mm. Leaflets round-cordate, 



6 mm., fleshy. Flowers white. magellanica. 



C2. Tubers. Leaflets obcordate, dotted black ; 6-12 small, red, umbellate flowers. 



rubra. 

 b2. Pubescent. 



c. Bulbous root ; stem short, scaly. Leaflets obcordate. Flowers 2-3, pink. 



gayi. 

 c2. Stem low, leafy. Leaflets broad, obcordate, very hairy underneath. Peduncle with 



2 leaves and lax panicle. laxa. 



^3. Leaves rosulate : leaflets obcordate, basi-cuneate. Peduncles many-flowered. 



valdiviensis. 



^3. Villose or tomentose-woolly. 

 c. Root not tuberous. 



d. Leaflets obcordate. Flowers large, yellow, 1-2 on long peduncle. 



ainara. 



d2. Leaflets cordate, 2-lobed. Many 2-flowered peduncles. Creeping, with leafy 

 branches. nalutcl-huapiensis. 



C2. Root tuberous. 



d. Branching stems, rosulate-leafy. Leaflets cuneate-bifid, with linear segments. 



Umbel of lilac flowers. stenophylla. 



d2. Leaves radical ; leaflets round-ovate, emarginate. Scapes with many blue 



flowers. floribunda. 



</3. Flowers yellow, violet and blue. " Springs up after rains." darwinii. 

 A2. Leaflets 8 or more. 



b. Glabrous. Flowers solitary. 



c. Stipe creeping from scaly base. Leaflets 9, obcordate, deeply partite. Flower large, 

 convolvuliform, pink. enncaphylla. 



