POPULAR FLORA. 



135 



1. Common Flax. Root annual; leaves lance-shaped ; flower blue. Cultivated. L. usiiciiissimum. 



2. VinGiNiA Flax. Koot perennial ; leaves oblong or lance-shaped ; flowers very small, yellow. Dry 



woods. L. Virginidnuvi- 



22. WOOD-SOEREL FAMILY. Order 0XALIDACEJ5. 



Small herbs with sour juice, compound leaves of three leaflets, and flowers nearly as in 

 the Flax family, but with 10 stamens, a 5-celled pod, and two or more seeds in each celL 



One genus, viz. 



Wood-Sorrel. Oxalis. 



Sepals, petals, and styles 5. Stamens 10; filaments united (monadelphous) at the base. Pod thin, 

 5-lobed. Leaflets obcordate. Flowering in summer. 



1. Common W. One-flowered scape and leaves rising from a scaly rootstock, hairy; 



white with reddish veins. N. in cold and moist woods. 



2. Violet W. Several-flowered scape and Ifeaves, from a scaly bulb ; petals violet. 



3. Yellow AV. Stems ascending, leafy ; flowers 2 to 6 on one peduncle, small, yellow. 



petals large, 



0. Acetosella. 



0' violacea, 



0. siricta. 



23. GERANIUM FAMILY. Order GERANIACEiE. 



Herbs or small shrubs, with scented leaves, having stipules, the lower ones opposite. 



Roots astringent. Sepals 

 5, overlapping. Petals 

 5. Stamens 10, but part 

 of them in some cases 

 without anthers : fila- 

 ments commonly united 

 at the bottom. Pistils 

 5 grown into one, that 

 is, all united to a long 

 beak of the receptacle 

 (except the 5 stigmas) ; 

 and when the fruit is 

 ripe the styles split away 

 from the beak and curl 

 up or twist, carrying 

 with them the five lit- 

 tle one-seeded pods, as 

 shown in Fig. 334. — There are three genera, viz. Geranium or Cranesbill ; Erodium, 

 which diifers in having only 5 stamens with anthers, and the fruit-bearing styles bearded 

 inside ; and Pelargonium, which has the corolla more or less irregular, generally 7 stamens 

 with anthers, &c. The latter are the House Geraniums, from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 of several species and many varieties. We describe only the wild species of true 



331. Leaf, nnd 333. Flowers of Wild Geranium 

 335. Seed 336 Same, cut across. 



332 333 



333. Stamens and pistil. 



Fruit bursting. 



