38 
XIII. GERANIACEiE. 
3. OXALIS, Linn. 
Stemless or branching, usually slender, perennial, acid herbs, with alter- 
nate or tufted, usually stipulate, 3-foliolate or pinnate leaves, and obcordate 
leaflets. — Flowers regular. Sepals 5, imbricate. Petals 5, contorted. Disk 
and glands 0. Stamens 10, all fertile. Ovary 5-lobed, 5 -celled ; styles 5 ; 
cells 1- or more ovuled. Capsule loeulicidal ; valves more or less cohering 
together and by the septa to the axis. Seeds with an arilliform, fleshy coat, 
that bursts elastically ; albumen fleshy. 
A very large genus, abounding in South Africa, of which a few species are British, and very 
widely diffused in both tropical and temperate countries. The foliage affords a grateful acid. 
Stems elongate, branching. Stipules 0 or small. Flowers yellow . . 1. 0. corniculata. 
Stems short or 0. Stipules large. Flowers white 2. 0. magellanica. 
1. O. corniculata, Linn.; — FI. N. Z. i. 43. An erect or decumbent, 
branched, slender, glabrous or pubescent herb, usually with a perennial root ; 
branches 1-10 in. long, erect, ascending, or more usually prostrate, some- 
times matted together. Leaves 3-foliolate ; leaflets deeply obcordate, ^-1 
in. long, glaucous below ; stipules small or 0 ; petioles slender, very variable. 
Peduncles axillary, 1-6-flovvered, variable in length. Flowers most vari- 
able in size. Petals yellow, notched. Capsules oblong or linear. 
Var. a. Decumbent. Leaves stipulate. 
Var. £1 . strict a. Erect or suberect. Leaves exstipulate. — O. slricta, Linn.; 0. Urvillei, 
lacicola, propinqaa, and divergens, A. Cunn. Prodr. ; 0. ambigua, A. Bich. Flor. 
Var. y. micropliylla. Stems procumbent. Branches creeping. Leaflet^very minute. 
Capsule oblong. — 0. micropliylla and 0. exilis, A. Cunn. Prodr. 
Var. 5. ciliifera. Stems procumbent, filiform. Leaflets membranous, ciliated. — 0. cilii- 
fera and tenuicaulis, A. Cunn. Prodr. 
Var. e. crassifolia. Stems rigid, matted together. Leaflets small, thick, pilose. — 0. 
crassifolia, A. Cunn. Prodr. 
Abundant, especially on the east coasts, throughout the islands, Banks and Solander, etc. 
One of the commonest and most variable weeds of warm climates. 
2. O. magellanica, Ford. ,—Fl. N. Z. i. 43. t. 13. A small, glabrous, 
or pubescent, stemless, rather succulent species, 3-4 in. high. Khizome 
creeping, perennial, covered with imbricate scales (old stipules). Leaves 
3-foliolate ; leaflets broadly obcordate, glabrous, glaucous below. Petioles 
usually hairy. Peduncles radical, 1-flowered, 2-bracteolate, often longer than 
the leaves. Sepals ovate, obtuse. Petals pure white, | in. long, oblong- 
obovate or obcordate, often oblique and ciliated. Capsules globose. — 0. Ca- 
taractcB, A. Cunn. Prodr. ; Hook. Ic. PI. t. 418. 
Throughout the islands, in damp, shady, alpine, and subalpine regions. Common in simi- 
lar situations in Tasmania, Fuegia, and S. Chili, very nearly allied to the European Wood 
Sorrel ( 0 . Acetosella, Linn.). 
Brodium cicutarium, Linn., a common European hairy pinnate-leaved geranium-like 
plant, seems now to be naturalized throughout the islands (as in Australia) ; it has regular 
flowers, 5 anthers, and the tails of the carpels bearded inside. 
Order XIY. RUTACE^. 
Shrubs and trees. Leaves opposite or alternate, exstipulate, pellucid- 
dotted, usually fragrant, simple or compound. Flowers regular, hermaphro- 
