flgerkia. OXALTDACE^. 109 



OXALIS. 



near the base, 1-3 inches high, recurving; leaves pinnate with linear or 

 lanceolate pinnae : flowers white on short slender penduncles fascicled at 

 the end of the stem or branches: sepals broadly lanceolate, acuminate 

 densely villous within : petals oblong, 3-4 lines long not exceeding the 

 sepals: stamens not more than 3^ the length of the petals: carpels obovoid 

 the upper half beset with white acuminate processes. On gravelly plains, 

 Jackson county, Oregon to northern California. 



2 FI/ERKEA Willd. Neue Sehr. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berl. iii, 448. 



Low smooth annual herbs with alternate dissected leaves with- 

 out stipules and small flowers on axillary peduncles. Calyx 

 deeply 3-parted. persistent. Petals 3, alternate with as many 

 glands, open in the bud, withering-persistent. Stamens 6, styles 

 3, united to near the apex. Ovaries 3, opposite the sepals, 1- 

 ovuled, distinct, fleshy, becoming indehiscent 1 -seeded nutlets, 

 separating from the axis. 



F. proserpinacoides Willd. Act. Berol. iii, 448. Glabrous : stems weak, 

 4-10 inches high sparingly branched from the base: leaves pinnate, the 

 lowest trifoliolate with lanceolate leaflets : the upper with more numerous 

 linear filiform leaflets; sepals ovate-acute, about a line long, a little longer 

 than the white petals : carpels globose, densely tuberculate. Under .Ash 

 trees in moist places about the mouth of the Willamette river, Oregon to 

 California, Illinois, Canada and the New England States. 



Odrer XIX. OXALIDACEiE Lindl. Nat. Syst. ed. 2, 140. 



Herbs, rarely shrubby, with acid juice, trifoliolate or pin- 

 nate leaves and variously disposed regular, flowers. Sepals 5, 

 equal distinct or nearly so, persistent, imbricate in the bud. 

 Petals 5 3 hvpogynous, equal, unguiculate deciduous, spirally 

 twisted in the bud. Stamens 10, hvpogynous, more or less mon- 

 adelphous: filaments subulate, those opposite the petals longer 

 than the others: anthers short, attached by the middle, in- 

 trorse, often reflexed and appearing extrorse, Ovary of 5 

 united carpels with distinct styles and capitate or penicillate 

 or sometimes 2-lobed stigmas. Capsule usually membranace- 

 ous, 5-lobed and 5-celled, the capsule at length mostly separa- 

 ble to the axis, opening by the dorsal suture, 1-12-seeded. 

 Seeds anatropous, with a loose fleshy testa which bursts elastic- 

 ally when the seeds are ripe. Embryo straight, as long as the 

 firm fleshy albumen with a rather long radicle. Cotyledons 

 broad and foliaceous. 



1 OXALIS L. Gen. n. 582. 



Herbs, rarely shrubby, with trifoliolate or pinnate leaves with- 

 out stipules and perfect, regular Mowers. Sepals 5, distinct or 

 united at the very base, imbricate in the bud. Petals 5, convo- 

 lute and twisted in the bud. Stamens 10, the filaments some- 

 what dilated and united below in 2 sets of unequal length, all 

 antheriferous. Capsule columnar or ovoid, beaked with the 5 

 styles. 5-celled, dehiscing loculicidallv, the valves remaining at- 

 tached by the partitions to the axis. Seeds 2-several in each 

 cell, pendulous the outer fleshy aril-like coat at length split- 



