SEEDS THAT ARE SHOT AWAY. 
OXALIS. 
Some plants have a way of shooting their seeds out 
of the pods. You know about the squirting cucumber. 
The little " sheep-sorrel/' or yellow- 
flowered oxalis, that grows everywhere 
in the fields and gardens, has a way of 
shooting off its seeds when they are 
ripe. 
There is an elastic covering over each 
seed, and when the pod opens, this cover- 
ing splits and suddenly curls up, with 
force enough to send the seed quite a 
distance. 
The leaves of the oxalis are sour, and 
Oxalis. , ._ n . , 
children sometimes eat them. 
A very powerful poison can be extracted from them, 
which is called oxalic acid, and sometimes salt of lemons, 
but, there is not enough of this poison in the leaves to 
make them harmful to eat. The poison when obtained 
in large quantities is useful in the manufacture of calico, 
where it is used in printing the colors, and it is also 
sometimes used in a diluted form to clean metal work. 
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