.jpg)
Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
3. Oxalis, Linn
3. Oxalis, Linn.
Herbs, stemless or caulescent. Leaves all radical or alternate, compound, 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 connate 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 200 species, chiefly found in South America and South Africa, with a few widely dispersed in most parts of the world.
Stem elongated. Peduncles axillary, 1–6-flowered. Flowers yellow 1. O. corniculata. Stem short or wanting. Peduncles radical, 1-flowered. Flowers white 2. O. magellanica.
| 1. | O. corniculata, Linn. Sp. Plant. 435.—A prostrate, decumbent or ascending, glabrous or pubescent, much-branched perennial 2–12 in. long; stems often matted. Leaves alternate, on long or short petioles, 3-foliolate; leaflets broadly obcordate, very variable in size, ⅛–1 in. long, glaucous beneath. Stipules minute, adnate to the petiole or wanting. Peduncles axillary, 1–6-flowered, about as long as the petioles. Flowers yellow, variable in size. Sepals acute or obtuse. Petals obcordate, notched. Capsule oblong or linear, subcylindric; seeds few or many in each cell.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 42; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 38; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 301; Kirk, Students' Fl. 83.
page 92
Var. a.—Decumbent. Leaves stipulate. Capsules ½–1 in. long, downy. Var. b, stricta, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 42.—Erect or suberect. Stipules wanting. Flowers small. Capsules large.—O. stricta, Linn. Sp. Plant. 435. O. Urvillei, propinqua, divergens, lacicola, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 584, 586, 588, 590. Var. c, microphylla, Hook. f. l.c.—Stems procumbent, slender, rooting. Leaflets usually minute. Capsule oblong.—O. exilis, A. Cunn. l.c. n. 587. Var. d, ciliifera, Hook. f. l.c.—Stems procumbent, filiform, matted. Leaflets membranous, ciliated.—O. tenuicaulis and O. ciliifera, A. Cunn. l.c. n. 589, 591. Var. e, crassifolia, Hook. f. l.c.—Stems rigid, matted. Leaflets small, thick, pilose.—O. crassifolia, A. Cunn. l.c. n. 592. Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands: Abundant throughout, chiefly in lowland situations. One of the most widely diffused and variable plants known, found in almost all temperate and tropical countries. |
| 2. | O. magellanica, Forst. in Comm. Gotting. ix. (1789) 33.—A small glabrous or pubescent almost stemless herb 2–4 in. high; rootstock creeping, scaly. Leaves all radical, on long slender hairy petioles, trifoliolate; leaflets obcordate, glabrous, glaucous beneath. Peduncles radical, long and slender, often exceeding the leaves, 2-bracteolate above the middle, 1-flowered. Flowers rather large, pure white, ⅓–½ in. diam. Sepals small, ovate, obtuse. Petals obovate or obcordate, often oblique. Capsule globose.—Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. ii. 253; Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 42, t. 13; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 38; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 300; Kirk, Students' Fl. 84. O. cataractæ, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 585; Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 418; Raoul, Choix, 47.
North and South Islands: From Mongonui and Kaitaia southwards, in damp and shaded or subalpine localities. Sea-level to fully 4000 ft. Also in Australia, Tasmania, Chili, and Fuegia, and closely allied to the common O. acetosella of the Northern Hemisphere. |