88 xxn. oxalidacete. [ O’xalis. 
[/. fulva Nutt, of N. America grows on the banks of the Wey, the 
Basingstoke Canal, and the Thames, from Guildford, and Woking 
Heath to Chiswick. The spur of the calyx is notched at the point, 
and so closely reflexed as to be pressed against the sepals. E. B. S. 
t. 2794.] 
Ord. XXII. OXALIDACEIE Be Cand. 
Flowers regular. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, equal, often 
cohering at the base and twisted in aestivation. Stamens 10, 
the 5 inner ones opposite the petals and longer than the others ; 
anthers distinct, 2-celled. Ovary 1, 5-celled. Styles 5. Stigmas 
usually capitate or somewhat bifid. Fruit a capsxde with 5, or 
10 valves, or indehiscent. Seeds attached to the axis, usually 
with an elastic lleshy outer integument, which, on bursting 
open, projects the seed to a distance. Embryo in a carti- 
laginous albumen , wilh its radicle towards the hilum. — Mostly 
herbs, with compound acid leaves; some of them highly sensi- 
tive. — Oxalis Acetosella abounds in oxalic acid. O. crenata 
of Peru affords a salad in its leaves, and its tubers are eaten 
as potatoes, but they are not worth a place in a European 
kitchen-garden. 
1. O'xalis Linn. Wood-Sorrel. 
Cal. not bracteated at the base. Filaments slightly combined 
below. Caps, angular, 5-celled. Seeds with an elastic integu- 
ment. — Named from o£vq, sharp or acid. 
1. O. Acetosella L. ( common IF.) ; leaves all radical ternate, 
leaflets inversely heart-shaped hairy, scape single-flowered, rhi- 
zome scaly. E. B. t. 762. 
Woods and shady places, frequent ; also at a great elevation on the 
mountains, among shady rocks. 11 . 5, and on the mountains till 8. — 
Leaf-stalks long and slender, reddish. Leaflets drooping at night. 
Scape with two scaly bracteas. Flowers handsome, drooping, white, 
with purplish veins. The leaves have a most agreeable acid flavour. 
— This appears to be the original Seamrog or Shamrock of Ireland; 
although the name has long been applied to the much less beauti- 
ful Trifolium repens or Dutch Clover, both in the Irish and Gaelic 
languages. 
2. O. corniculdta L. {yellow procumbent IF); stem branched, 
branches procumbent, peduncles mostly 2-fiowered shorter than 
the ternate leaves, stipules united to the base of the petioles. 
E. B. t. 1726. 
Shady waste ground, chiefly in the extreme south of England. 
Devonshire and Cornwall. 0. 6 — 9. 
( O. stricta L. is stated to be naturalised in gardens near Penzance ; 
at Ilsington, Devon ; in fields near Northam, North Devon ; and in 
an orchard at Cuckfield, Sussex. This latter station is generally 
