580 



Oxalidaceae; Linaceae 



Fam. 107. OXALmACEAE Katabami Ka Sorrel Family 



Herbs, rarely shrubs, sometimes with bulbous rhizomes, the juice acid; leaves usually ternate, rarely pinnate or simple, the 

 leaflets usually obcordate; stipules formed by the slightly swollen bases of the petioles one on each side; flowers bisexual, in 

 umbels or dichotomous cymes, sometimes solitary, actinomorphic, sometimes cleistogamous; sepals 5; petals 5, white, rose-purple 

 or yellow, contorted in bud; stamens 10-15; ovary 5-locular, 5-lobed, the styles free or connate, the ovules 1 to several in each 



locule; capsules globose to cylindric, loculicidally dehiscent; embryo erect in a fleshy endosperm. About 5 genera, with more 



than 300 species, in the Tropics and subtropics, especially abundant in S. Africa and S. America. 



1. OXALIS L. 



Katabami 



Characters of the family. 



lA. Acaulescent; leaves and peduncles radical; flowers solitary, white or rose. 



2A. Scapes few-flowered; naturalized plant growing in waste grounds and cultivated fields 1. 0. martiana 



2B. Scapes 1-flowered; indigenous plants growing in woods. 



3A. Leaflets obcordate or obtriangular, with obtuse or rounded angles; capsules ovoid-globose or oblong, 4-12 mm. long, with 1 or 

 2 seeds in each locule. 

 4A. Plant smaller than the following, with slender rhizomes and the leaflets with more strongly rounded margins; petals 10-15 



mm. long; capsules ovoid-globose, 4-6 mm. long 2. O. acetosella 



4B. Plant larger than the preceding with stouter, thicker rhizomes and the margins of the leaflets less rounded; petals 15-18 mm. 

 long in both chasraogamic and cleistogamic flowers; capsules oblong, 1-1.2 cm. long, or in cleistogamic flowers ovoid and 



5-6 mm. long 3.0. griffithii 



3B. Leaflets obtriangulate, with rather acute angles; capsules cylindric, about 2 cm. long, with 4 or 5 seeds on each locule; plant larger. 



4. O. obtriangttlata 

 IB. Caulescent; flowers yellow, 1 to several, in an axillary, nearly umbellate inflorescence. 



5A. Stems tufted, from a tap root, sometimes long-creeping; stipules small, but distinct, auriclelike; inflorescence subumbellate, the 



flowers 1-8; pedicels downwardly flexuous; seeds 1-1.5 mm. across 5. O. corniculata 



5B. Stems distant, erect from slender elongate creeping rhizomes; stipules indistinct; inflorescence cymose, the flowers 1-2 (-3); 

 pedicels spreading or erect; seeds L5-2 mm. across 6. O. jontana 



1. Oxalis martiana Zucc. Murasaki-katabami. Weedy woods; Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; rather common. For- 



herb with a tap-root and numerous brownish bulbils; leaves all mosa, China, and n. India. 



radical, thinly pubescent, petiolate, the leaflets 3, thin, obcor- 4. Oxalis obtriangulata Maxim. O-yama-katabami. 



date, 2-A cm. wide, broadly cuneate at base; scapes 10-20 cm. Similar to the preceding but larger; rhizomes thickened above 



long, slender, thinly pubescent; flowers 5-10, umbellate on the with densely imbricate scales; leaves long-petioled, the leaflets 



scape, 5-merous, nodding in bud, the pedicels slender, 1-3 cm. obtriangular, about 2.5 cm. long, 4 cm. wide, truncate and 



long; sepals with a pair of brownish glands; petals 12-15 mm. retuse at apex; scapes bracteate on upper part; sepals oblong, 



long, obovate-spathulate, rose-purple. Naturalized; Hon- longer than the filaments; capsules lanceolate-cylindric, acumi- 



shu, Shikoku, Kyushu. Introduced from S. America. nate, about 2 cm. long. ^Mountain woods; Honshu, Shi- 



2. Oxalis acetosella L. Ko-miyama-katabami. Thinly koku. Korea, Manchuria, and Ussuri. 



pubescent to nearly glabrous, delicate perennial with slender, 5. Oxalis corniculata L. Katabami. Thinly pubes- 

 elongate, few-scaled rhizomes; leaves all radical, the petioles cent perennial herb with acid juice; stems long-creeping from 

 3-10 cm. long, jointed 2-3 mm. above the base, the stipules a thickened tap-root; leaves alternate, long-petioled, the leaflets 

 broadly ovate, the leaflets sessile, obcordate, 4-20 mm. long, depressed-obcordate, 1-2.5 cm. wide, retuse; stipules minute 

 7-30 mm. wide, remse, with rounded angles, often glabrous but distinct; peduncles erect, with linear or lanceolate bracts 

 on upper side; scapes 5-8 cm. long, with a pair of small mem- at apex, (l-)2- to 8-flowered; flowers yellow, about 8 mm. 

 branous bracts at or slighdy above the middle; sepals nar- across; capsules cylindric, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, many-seeded; 

 rowly ovate, obtuse, shorter than the stamens; petals white or seeds broadly ovate, lenticular, transversely rugulose. May- 

 pale rose-purple, 9-14 mm. long, narrowly obovate; capsules Sept. Waste grounds and roadsides in lowlands and hills; 



ovoid-globose, 4-6 mm. long. ^May-June. Coniferous Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; very common; variable. 



woods; Hokkaido, Honshu (centr. distr. and northw.). Cosmopolitan in all temperate and warm areas. 



Europe and Asia. 6. Oxalis fontana Bunge. O. stricta L. pro parte; O. 



3. Oxalis grilBthii Hook. f. & Edgew. O. acetosella etiropaea Jord. Ezo-tachi-katabami. Closely related to 



subsp. griffithii (Hook. f. & Edgew.) Hara; O. acetosella var. the preceding species; rhizomes elongate, very slender, loosely 



vegeta Tatew.; O. japonica sensu auct. Japon., non Fr. & Sav.; and minutely scaly; stems 20-40 cm. long, usually simple; 



O. acetosella var. japonica Makino, excl. basionym. ^Mi- leaves long-petioled; stipules indistinct; inflorescence cymose; 



yama-katabami. Larger; leaflets obcordate to depressed- flowers I or 2, rarely 3, pedicellate, the bracts small; seeds 



obtriangular, 1-2.5 cm. long, 2-4 cm. wide; petals 15-18 mm. rather large, 1.5-2 mm. across. July-Oct. Thickets and 



long; capsules oblong, 1-1.2 cm. long, or in cleistogamic thin woods; Hokkaido, Honshu (centr. distr. and northw.). 



flowers ovoid and 5-6 mm. long. Apr.-May. Mountain Temperate Asia and N. America, introduced in Europe. 



Fam. 108. LINACEAE Ama Ka Flax Family 



Herbs or shrubs; leaves alternate or opposite, simple, entire, the stipules absent or glandlike; flowers bisexual, actinomorphic; 

 sepals 4 or 5, free or partly connate, imbricate; petals contorted, often clawed; stamens as many as the petals and alternate with 



