OXALIDACE^. Ill 



Plate 144. 



OXALIS, L. 



Capsula 5-loba, loculicida ; loculis mono-oligospermis. Tes- 

 ta seminum carnosa, e tegmine interiore costato elastice dis- 

 siliente. — Folia saepissime 3-foliolata, raro abrupte pinnata. 



OxALis, Linn. Gen. 582. Gsertn. Fr. 2. t. 113. Jacq. Monogr. Ox. p. 4. 

 Zuccarini, 3Ionogr. Ox. Amer. in MUnch. Denkschr. 1825 «fe 

 1831. St. Hil. Fl. Bras. 1. p. 104. Endl. Gen. 6058, 



OxALis & BiopHYTUM, DC. Prodf. 1. p. 689, 690. 



OxYS, Tourn. Inst. p. 88. t. 19. 



Wood-Sorrel, 



Calyx of five erect sepals, quincuncially imbricated in 

 aestivation, persistent. Petals 5, larger than the sepals, 

 obovate, somewhat unguiculate, hypogynous, convolute in 

 a3Stivation, deciduous. Stamens 10, hypogynous, the five 

 opposite the petals shorter than the others : filaments subu- 

 late, flattened, dilated below, and more or less monadelphous : 

 ANTHERS short, fixcd by the middle, introrse, at length resu- 

 pinate, two-celled, the oval or oblong cells opening longitu- 

 dinally. Pistil of five united carpels: ovary often raised 

 on a short gynophore, five-lobed, five-celled, the cells oppo- 

 site the petals : styles 5, distinct, sometimes united at the 

 base, usually hairy : stigmas capitate, clavate, or dilated, often 

 two-lobed or laciniate. Ovules few or solitary from the 

 inner angle of each cell, pendulous, anatropous, the raphe 

 ventral. 



Fruit a columnar or ovoid herbacco-mcmbranaceous cap- 

 sule, five-lobed, five-celled ; the cells not separating from 

 the axis, dehiscent on the back (loculicidal). Seeds few or 

 solitary in each cell, pendulous, obovate, margined with a 

 distinct raphe ; the exterior integument (testa) fleshy, loose 

 and aril-like, splitting down on the side opposite the raphe;, 

 separating from the crusfaceous usually costato and trans- 



