WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 1 57 



Violet Wood Sorrel 



lojioxdlis violacea (Linnaeus) Small 



Plate iji.-i 



Flowering stalks and leaves smooth, 3 to 8 inches tall, arising from a 

 perennial, brownish, scaly bulb. Leaves few or several, slender-stemmed, 

 one-half to i| inches wide. Leaflets three, broader than long, notched at 

 the apex. Flowers three to ten, or rarely more on each stalk, forming a 

 loose, umbellate inflorescence at the summit, which is taller than the leaves. 

 Each flower two-thirds to three-fourths of an inch long on a short, slender 

 pedicel; sepals blunt, five in number, with tubercles at the apex; petals five, 

 rose-purple, lighter toward the base, blunt, about three times as long as the 

 sepals; stamens ten; capsule ovoid, about one-fifth of an inch in diameter. 



In open, usually rather dry woodlands, shaded hillsides and thickets; 

 sometimes in open, recently cleared land, ]\Lassachusetts to Florida and 

 Texas, west to Minnesota. Flowering in May and June. 



Tall Yellow Wood Sorrel 



Xaathoxalis cymosa Small 



Plate 12 lb 



Stems ascending or erect, branched above, 6 inches to 3 or 4 feet high 

 and frequently reclining on surrounding vegetation, usually hairy, reddish 

 or brown. Leaves bright green, three-fourths to i§ inches broad on petioles 

 I to 3 inches long; leaflets broader than long, sharply notched. Flowers 

 yellow, in forking cymes; each flower on a pedicel one-fourth to one-third 

 of an inch long, which is more or less hairy and erect or ascending. Sepals 

 five, lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, one-sixth to one-fourth of an inch long, 

 spreading in fruit; petals five, obtuse or notched at the apex, one-third to 

 nearly one-half of an inch long. Fruit a slender, columnar, erect capsule, 

 about one-half of an inch long, gradually narrowed to the summit; seeds 

 obovoid-oblong with nearly continuous ridges. 



In fields, thickets and woods, Ontario to Michigan, south to Florida 

 and Texas. Flowering from May to October. 



