3. FLŒ́RKEA, Willd. False Mermaid.

Sepals 3. Petals 3, shorter than the calyx, oblong. Stamens 6. Ovaries 3, opposite the sepals, united only at the base; the style rising in the centre; stigmas 3. Fruit of 3 (or 1–2) roughish fleshy achenes. Seed anatropous, erect, filled by the large embryo with its hemispherical fleshy cotyledons.—A small and inconspicuous annual, with minute solitary flowers on axillary peduncles. (Named after Floerke, a German botanist.)

1. F. proserpinacoìdes, Willd. Leaflets 3–5, lanceolate, sometimes 2–3-cleft.—Marshes and river-banks, W. New Eng. to Penn., Ky., Wisc., and westward. April–June. Taste slightly pungent.

4. ÓXALIS, L. Wood-Sorrel.

Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, sometimes united at base, withering after expansion. Stamens 10, usually monadelphous at base, alternately shorter. Styles 5, distinct. Pod oblong, membranaceous, 5-celled, more or less 5-lobed, each cell opening on the back; valves persistent, being fixed to the axis by the partitions. Seeds 2 or more in each cell, pendulous from the axis, anatropous, their outer coat loose and separating. Embryo large and straight in fleshy albumen; cotyledons flat.—Herbs, with sour watery juice, alternate or radical leaves, mostly of 3 obcordate leaflets, which close and droop at nightfall. Several species produce small peculiar flowers, precociously fertilized in the bud and particularly fruitful; and the ordinary flowers are often dimorphous or even trimorphous in the relative length of the stamens and styles. (Name from ὀξύς, sour.)

[*] Stemless perennials; leaves and scapes arising from a rootstock or bulb; leaflets broadly obcordate; flowers nearly 1´ broad; cells of the pod few-seeded.

1. O. Acetosélla, L. (Common Wood-Sorrel.) Rootstock creeping and scaly-toothed; scape 1-flowered (2–5´ high); petals white with reddish veins, often notched.—Deep cold woods, Mass. to Penn., L. Superior, and northward; also southward in the Alleghanies. June. (Eu.)

2. O. violàcea, L. (Violet W.) Nearly smooth; bulb scaly; scapes umbellately several-flowered (5–9´ high), longer than the leaves; petals violet.—Rocky places and open woods; most common southward. May, June.

[*][*] Stems leafy, branching; peduncles axillary; flowers yellow; cells several-seeded.

3. O. corniculàta, L. (Yellow W.) Annual or perennial by running subterranean shoots, erect or procumbent, strigose-pubescent; stipules round or truncate, ciliate; peduncles 2–6-flowered, longer than the leaves; pods elongated, erect in fruit.—Rare; on ballast, etc.; indigenous in Mo. (Bush), and southwestward. (Cosmopolitan.)