The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States. Asa Gray
thick, radicle very short.—Low tender annuals, with alternate pinnate leaves and no stipules.
3. Flœrkea. Sepals, minute pistils, and lobes of the ovary 3, stamens 6.
Tribe III. OXALÍDEÆ. (Sorrel Family.) Flowers regular, 5-merous, the persistent sepals imbricate. Glands none. Stamens 10, often united at base. Stigmas capitate. Fruit a 5-celled loculicidal pod (in Oxalis); cells 2–several-seeded. Embryo straight, in a little fleshy albumen.—Leaves compound (3-foliolate in our species); juice sour.
4. Oxalis. Styles 5, separate. Pod oblong, the valves not falling away. Leaflets usually obcordate.
Tribe IV. BALSAMÍNEÆ. (Balsam Family.) Flowers irregular (5-merous as to the stamens and pistil); the petals and colored sepals fewer in number, deciduous, the larger sepal with a large sac or spur. Glands none. Stamens 5, distinct, short. Fruit a fleshy 5-celled pod (in Impatiens), cells several-seeded. Embryo straight.—Tender and very succulent herbs, with simple leaves and no stipules.
5. Impatiens. Lateral petals unequally 2-lobed. Pod bursting elastically into 5 valves.
1. GERANIUM, Tourn. Cranesbill.
Stamens 10 (sometimes only 5 in n. 3), all with perfect anthers, the 5 longer with glands at their base (alternate with the petals). Styles smooth inside in fruit when they separate from the axis.—Stems forking. Peduncles 1–3-flowered. (An old Greek name from γέρανος, a crane, the long fruit bearing beak thought to resemble the bill of that bird.)
[*] Rootstock perennial.
1. G. maculàtum, L. (Wild Cranesbill.) Stem erect, hairy; leaves about 5-parted, the wedge-shaped divisions lobed and cut at the end, sepals slender-pointed, petals entire, light purple, bearded on the claw (½´ long).—Open woods and fields. April–July.—Leaves somewhat blotched with whitish as they grow old.
[*][*] Root biennial or annual; flowers small.
[+] Leaves ternately much dissected, heavy-scented.
2. G. Robertiànum, L. (Herb Robert.) Sparsely hairy, diffuse, strong-scented, leaves 3-divided or pedately 5-divided, the divisions twice pinnatifid; sepals awned, shorter than the (red-purple) petals; carpels wrinkled; seeds smooth.—Moist woods and shaded ravines; N. Eng. to Mo., and northward. June–Oct. (Eu.)
[+][+] Leaves palmately lobed or dissected.
3. G. Caroliniànum, L. Stems at first erect, diffusely branched from the base, hairy; leaves about 5-parted, the divisions cleft and cut into numerous oblong-linear lobes; peduncles and pedicels short; sepals awn-pointed, as long as the emarginate (pale rose-colored) petals; carpels hairy; seeds ovoid-oblong, very minutely reticulated.—Barren soil and waste places; common. May–Aug.—Depauperate forms, except by the seeds, are hardly distinguishable from
G. disséctum, L. More slender and spreading, with narrower lobes to the crowded leaves, and smaller red-purple petals notched at the end; seeds short-ovoid or globular, finely and deeply pitted.—Waste grounds, rare. (Nat. from Eu.)
G. rotundifòlium, L. With the habit of the next but the fruit and seed of the last; villous with long white hairs tipped with purple glands, leaves short-lobed.—Rare. (Nat. from Eu.)
G. pusíllum, L. Stems procumbent, slender, minutely pubescent; leaves rounded kidney-form, 5–7-parted, the divisions wedge-shaped, mostly 3-lobed, sepals awnless, about as long as the (purplish) petals; stamens 5; fruit pubescent; seeds smooth.—Waste places, Mass. to Penn.; rare. (Nat. from Eu.)
G. mólle, L. Like the last; more pubescent; flowers dark purple; stamens 10; carpels transversely wrinkled, seed slightly striate.—Occasionally spontaneous. (Nat. from Eu.)
G. columbìnum. (Long-stalked C.) Minutely hairy, with very slender decumbent stems; leaves 5–7-parted and cut into narrow linear lobes; peduncles and pedicels filiform and elongate; sepals awned, about equalling the purple petals, enlarging after flowering; carpels glabrous; seeds nearly as in G. dissectum.—Rarely introduced; Penn. and southward. June, July. (Nat. from Eu.)
G. Sibíricum, L. Slender, repeatedly forked, short-villous; leaves 3-cleft with serrate divisions; flowers dull-white, mostly solitary; sepals awned; seeds minutely reticulate.—Rare. (Nat. from Eu.)
2. ERÒDIUM, L'Her. Storksbill.
The 5 shorter stamens sterile or wanting. Styles in fruit twisting spirally, bearded inside. Otherwise as Geranium. (Name from ἑρωδιός, a heron.)
E. cicutàrium, L'Her. Annual, hairy; stems low, spreading; stipules acute; leaves pinnate, the leaflets sessile, 1–2-pinnatifid; peduncles several-flowered.—N. Y., Penn., etc.; scarce. (Adv. from Eu.)
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.)
Var. strícta, Sav. Stem erect, somewhat glabrous to very villous; stipules none. (O. stricta, L.)—Common. May–Sept. Varies greatly.
4. O. recúrva, Ell. Like var. stricta of n. 3; leaflets larger (½–1½´ broad), usually with a brownish margin; flowers larger (6–8´´ long).—Penn. to S. Ill., and southward.
5.