SORREL FAMILY. Oxalidaceas. 



Yellow Wood 

 Sorrel or 

 Lady's Sorrel 

 O.valis cymosn 

 Yellow 

 May-Septeni= 

 ber 



last species), 



One of the commonest yellow sorrels of 

 the north ; not a woodland plant but fa- 

 miliar by every roadside and in every field 

 and garden. The light green stem erect, 

 rather smooth , or sparingly hairy (viewed 

 under the glass) ; the leaves of three heart- 

 shaped leaflets (smaller than those of the 

 long-stemmed and somewhat drooping ; 

 without small leafy formations at the junction of leaf- 

 stem and plant-stem. The rather deep lemon yellow 

 flowers scarcely ^ inch broad, with five long ovate petals 

 and ten yellow stamens alternately long and short ; the 

 heart of the blossom is green. There are 2-6 flowers 

 on a somewhat horizontally spreading, branched stem, 

 which are succeeded by hairy seed-pods | inch long set 

 at scarcely a wide angle with their stalks. Visited by 

 the smaller bees, and Syrphid flies, and also occa- 

 sionally by the tiny butterflies (Hes^yeria). 3-12 inches 

 high, with a weak stem but strong root. The O. cor- 

 niculata, var. stricta, of the sixth ed. of Gray's Manual. 

 A far less common species, an annual or 

 perennial, sustaining itself by far-reaching 

 running roots. Generally less upright 

 than the last. With leafy formations at the 

 bases of the leaf-stalks. Pods elongated, 

 and erect, often set at a sharp angle 

 witli their stalks. In other respects very similar to the 

 foregoing species, but rare ; near Burlington, Vt. (T. 

 E. Hazen). 



Yellow Wood 

 Sorrel or 

 Lady's Sorrel 



O.ralis stricta 

 May-Septem= 

 ber 



236 



