OXALIDACEAE. 241 



6. L. congestum Gray. Corymbosely branched at top, 8 to 18 in. high; 

 leaves somewhat pubescent, 4 to 13 lines long, with stipular glands; flowers 

 rose-purple, 3 to 4 lines long, terminating the branches in clusters; sepals 

 pubescent; petals with 3 appendages, the middle one elongated and hairy; 

 capsule short-ovoid, nearly as long as the calyx. 



Marin Co. ; San Francisco. Hardly more than a form of L. californicum. 



7. L. breweri Gray. Stems 9 to 14 in. high, with a few short branches at 

 the top; glabrous and glaucous; leaves narrowly linear, 5 to 8 lines long; 

 flowers yellow, 3 lines long; sepals ovate, some slightly glandular on the mar- 

 gin; petals obovate, not emarginate, more than 2 times as long, 3 appendaged 

 at base. 



Dry hill or canon sides: Mt. Diablo; Vaca Mts. June. 



OXALIDACEAE. Oxalis Family. 



Ours low herbs with sour juice and palmately 3-foliolate leaves. Flowers 

 complete, regular, symmetrical, 5-merous. Ovary superior, 5-celled; styles 5, 

 distinct. Fruit a loculicidal capsule. 



1. OXALIS L. Wood Sorrel. 



Leaflets obcordate, closing and drooping at night. Peduncles axillary, 1 to 

 several-flowered. Sepals imbricated. Stamens 10, the filaments somewhat 

 dilated and united at base. Glands none. Capsule membranous, 5-celled, more 

 or less 5-lobed, the cells opening on the dorsal sutures through which the seeds 

 are ejected, the valves remaining attached to the axis by the partitions. Seeds 

 2 to several in each cell. (Greek oxus, sour, the juice containing oxalic acid.) 



Leaves alternate on the stem; flowers yellow 1. O. corniculata. 



Leaves all radical; flowers pink, white or rose-color 2. O. oregana. 



1. O. corniculata L. Yellow Sorrel. Perennial by running rootstocks, 

 villous-pubescent ; stems herbaceous, slender, decumbent or ascending, 3 to 6 

 in. long; leaflets mostly obcordate, 1% in. long, on slender petioles with small 

 villous stipules ; peduncles axillary, elongated, bearing two or more flowers ; 

 petals yellow; capsule erect in fruit, linear, % in. long, many-seeded. 



Behaving in the Bay region after the manner of an introduced plant; flow- 

 ering through the spring, summer and autumn. 



2. O. oregana Nutt. Kedwood Sorrel. Acaulescent perennial, more or 

 less rusty-villous ; leaflets broadly obcordate, broader than long, 1 to iy 2 in. 

 long; scapes from creeping rootstocks equaling or exceeding the leaves, 2- 

 bracted near the top, commonly 1-flowered; petals oblong-obovate, 9 to 12 lines 

 long, pink, white, or rose-color, often veined with purple; capsule linear, 9 

 lines long; cells about 6-seeded. 



Shady woods in the Eedwood belt from the Santa Lucia Mts. and Santa 

 Cruz Mts. to Marin and Sonoma cos. northward. Mar. -Apr. 



GERANIACEAE. Geranium Family. 



Ours herbs with lobed and divided leaves and scarious stipules. Flowers 

 complete, regular, symmetrical, 5-merous. Sepals persistent. Petals decidu- 

 ous. Stamens as many or twice as many as the petals. Ovary superior, 5- 

 eelled, deeply lobed, the 5 styles united around the elongated axis (prolonga- 

 tion of the receptacle) and free only at tip. Fruit of 5 one-seeded carpels sep- 

 arating elastically when ripe from the central persistent axis and bearing the 

 twisted or spirally coiled styles as tails. 



