Refugium Botaniewn. | |lpril, 1868. 
TAB. 1. 
Natural Order GERANIACE. 
Tribe OxXALIDE. 
Genus Oxatis, L. 
Sect. Caprine, D.C. Acaules aut stipite nudo apice tantuin folioso 
donatis, pedunculis uni-, bi-, vel seepius multifloris, foliis radicalibus 
petiolatis plurifoliatis sepius trifoliatis. 
O. MEGALORHIZA (Jacquin Oxalis No. 12). Radice carnoso crasso, caule 
brevissimo crasso, squamato, squamis brunneis ciliatis, foliis longe 
petiolatis trifoliolatis, foliolis sessilibus obcordatis carnosis sub- 
glabris, pedunculo multifloro petiolis longiore, sepalis marginibus 
crispatis, petalis obovatis luteis glabris calyce duplo longioribus.— 
D.C. Prodr. i. p. 695 ; C. Gay, Fl. Chil. i. p. 441. O. bicolor, Savi, 
Encye. iv. p. 687. 
A native of Chili and Peru. 
foot fleshy, at least an inch thick, divided at the crown. 
Stems short, thick, fleshy, simple, clothed with small imbricated 
pale brown ciliated membranous scales. Petioles glabrous, slen- 
der, fleshy, spreading or drooping, 4 to 6 inches long. Leaves 
ternate, the leaflets sessile, obcordate, half an inch deep by three- 
quarters of an inch broad, emarginate at the apex, glaucous-green 
above, bright purplish violet beneath, fleshy in texture but thin. 
Peduncle slender, terete, naked, 6 to 12 inches long, the main 
branches all springing from one point, simple or branched again, 
the flowers 4 to 8in number. Calyx irregular, the sepals fleshy, 
flat and naked in the middle, the edges crisped and hairy, the 
base irregularly gibbous, slightly tinted like the under side of the 
leaves. racts small, villose, blunt, lanceolate. Petals twice as 
long as the calyx, obovate-unguiculate, bright yellow, shghtly 
tinted with red on the outside.—J. G. B. 
This plant I received from my friend Mr. D. Hanbury, who 
informs me that four serons of the stems were imported into 
London, in the spring of 1864, from some Port in the Pacific. It 
was called a sort of Rhatany-root. The name Chullco is applied 
in Peru, I learn, to many species of Oxalis, some of which have 
edible tubers. The plant is of rather a lax habit, producing a 
quantity of yellow flowers at the top of a short fleshy stem. It 
erows well in a mixture of sandy loam and leaf-mould, and 
requires a greenhouse temperature.—W. W. 8. 

