180 XXVIII. GERANIACE^. [Oxalh. 



embryo straight. — Herbs. Leaves alternate or radical, compound ; leaflets _ 3, 

 digitate, or, in species not Australian, 3 or more and pinnate. Stipules scale-like 

 or^none. Peduncles axillary or radical, 1-flowered or bearing an umbel of several 

 flowers. 



A large genus, especially abundant in South America and extratropieal South Africa, with a 

 very few species widely dispersed over the temperate or tropical regions of the globe- Of the 

 two Queensland species, one is common to New Zealand and Antaretio America, and perhaps not 

 different from a common northern one. — Bentli. 



Stemless. Flowers lilac. Peduncles radical, many-flowered 1. O. corymhosa. 



Stem elongated. Flowers small, yellow. Peduncles axillary, 1 or more- 

 flowered . . . 2. 0. corniculat'i. 



Stems slender. Leaves abruptly pinnate. Peduncles terminal 3. 0. sesdlis. 



1. O. corymbosa (corymbose), 1)0. Stemless, with a rather deep trans- 

 parent, olavate tuber, at the top of which are formed numerous bulbils, with 

 brown membranous coats. Peduncles and petioles 6 to 12 lines long,' more or 

 less pilose. Leaflets 8, sessile, 1 to 2in. broad, deeply qbcordate at the apex, 

 cuneate at the base, pubescent beneath, and more or less marked, especially near 

 the margins, with glandular yellow dots similar to those on the back of the sepals. 

 Flowers in each corymb from 10 to 20. Sepals lanceolate, 2 or 3 lines long, 

 rather blunt, with 2 linear dots on the back near the apex. Petals red, about 

 3 times as long as the sepals, oblong. Capsule oblong, seeds numerous, dpwpy. 

 — 0. hipunctata, Grah.; 0. Martiana, Zucc. 



Hab.: This South American species has become quite a pest in Queensland gardens. Accord- 

 ing to Baker, Fl. Mauritius, it has also become naturalised at Mauritius. 



2. O. corniculata (small horn bearing), Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 692 ; Benth. 

 FL Austr. i. 301. Yellow-wood Sorrel. A decumbent, prostrate or ascending, 

 much-branched, delicate perennial or sometimes annual, more or less pubescent, 

 of a pale green, from a few inches to a foot long. Stipular scales small, adnata 

 to the petiole. Leaves alternate ; leaflets 3, broadly obcordate, usually 3 or 4 

 lines long, but sometimes half that size. Peduncles axillary, about the length of 

 the petioles, bearing an umbel of several small yellow flowers, rarely reduced to 

 1 or 2, on reflexed pedicels. Capsule column-like, often above |in. long, with 

 several seeds in each cell, rarely short and few-seeded. — Eeichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. v. 

 t. 199 ; Wight, Ic. t. 18 ; Hook f. Fl. Tasm. i. 59 ; F. v. M. PI. Vict. i. 177 ; 

 0. microphylla, Poir.; DC. Prod. i. 692; 0. pennnans, Haw.; DC. I.e. 691 (from 

 the character given) ; Oi Preissiana and 0. cognata, Steud. in PI. Preiss. i. 160. 



Hab.: Islands of the coast as well as on the mainland, Keppel Bay, B. Brown : Percy Island, 

 A. Cunningham and others ; and in the interior as far north as the Burdekin, F. v. M., Mitchell ; 

 throughout the colony. 



B. O. sessilis (sessile), Hamilt. Stems 1 to 6in. high, slender. Leaves 1 to 

 near 2in. long, crowded with from 5 to 7 pairs of ciliate leaflets, the lowest 

 smallest, orbicular-ovate, the middle ones truncate at the base, the terminal with a 

 contracted oblique base and arched midrib, the lateral nerves prominent, 

 horizontal, wavy ; petiole puberulous. Pedicels sessile ; sepals exceeding the 

 pedicels, about 2 lines long, striate, with scarious margins. Corolla purple or 

 red, or appears so in the dry specimen. Capsule slightly exceeding the calyx. 

 Seeds tuberculate. — Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 437 (in part) ; 0. Petemii, Klotz ; 

 Biophytum Apndiscias, TurcZ. 



Hab.; Musgrave Electric Telegraph Station, T. Barclay-Millar, 



Leaves endowed with gentle movements under the influence of light, darkrjess, or shoqks, like 

 those pf Mimosa pudica, iC-c, 



