Oxalis. | OXALIDACEAE. 539 
Family LIII. OXALIDACEAE. 
Stemless or caulescent herbs, rarely shrubs ; rootstock creeping, bulbous, 
or tuberous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, usually digitately compound ; 
stipules generally present; leaflets often obcordate. Flowers regular, 
hermaphrodite. Sepals 5, often unequal. Petals 5, equal, inserted on the 
receptacle. Stamens 10-15, inserted on the receptacle, free or connate 
at the base. Ovary 5-celled, 5-lobed; styles free or connate ; ovules 2 to 
man# in each cell. Fruit a globose or cylindric capsule, rarely a berry. 
Seed; pendulous ; testa crustaceous; albumen fleshy, abundant. Embryo 
straight, axile. 
A small family of 7 genera, comtaining about 300 species, most of which are 
African, It is closely allied to Geraniaceae, from which it is chiefly separated by the 
capsular fruit. 
OXALIS Linn. 
Herbs, stemless or caulescent. Leaves all radical or alternate, com- 
pound, usually 3-foliolate, stipulate’ or exstipulate. Flowers regular, on 
axillary 1- or more - flowered peduncles. Sepals 5, imbricate. Petals 5, 
hypogynous, contorted. Disc without glands. Stamens 10, free or con- 
nate at the base, all anther-bearing. Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled; styles 5, 
distinct ; ovules 1 or more in each cell. Capsule loculicidally dehiscing, 
the valves persistent on the axis. Seeds with an outer fleshy coat which 
bursts elastically ; testa crustaceous ; albumen fleshy. 
A large genus of over 250 species, chiefly found in South America and South 
Africa, with a few widely dispersed in most parts of the world. 
More or less pubescent, diffusely branched from the base. Stipules 
present. Peduncles 1—-3-flowered. Flowers yellow v4 .. IL. O. corniculata. 
Subglabrous. Stem erect, but often with runners below. Stipule 
wanting. Peduncles 3-8-flowered. Flowers yellow fs ws ee OE siitota, 
Stem short or wanting. Peduncles radical, 1-flowered. Flowers 
white as ae + tes Pe et .. 3d. O, lactea. 
1. O. eorniculata Linn. Sp. Plant. (1753) 435.—A more or less pubescent 
much-branched prostrate or decumbent delicate perennial herb, branches 
sometimes ascending at the tips. Leaves alternate, 3-foliolate, on long or 
short petioles, stipules small, adnate to the petioles; leaflets broadly 
obcordate, g-$in. long, thin and membranous, often glaucous beneath. 
Peduncles axillary, 1-4-flowered, about as long as the petioles; capsule 
oblong-cylindric, $in. long, usually clothed with appressed pubescence. 
Seeds few or many.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 42; Handb. N.Z. FI. 
(1864) 38; ZT. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 83; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. FI. 
(1906) 91. | 
G- Cunne fer, ay tev. §. Sig (17H) 
Var. microphylla Hook. f. l.c.— Stems procumbent, slendér, rooting. Leaflets 
usually minute. Capsule oblong.—(?) O. exilis A. Cunn. Precur. (1839) n. 587. 
Var. ciliifera A. Cunn. l.c.—Stems procumbent, filiform, matted. Leaflets mem- 
branous, ciliated.—O. tenuicaulis A. Cunn. l.c. n. 589. 
KerMapbec Istanps, NortH and’ Soutu Istanps: Abundant throughout, chiefly 
in lowland situations. 
One of the most widely diffused and variable plants known, found in almost all 
temperate and tropical countries. 
