Redwood-Sorrel
Oxalis Oregana, Nutt. Geranium Family
Herbs with sour juice. Leaves.—With three leaflets; petioles two to even twelve inches long. Leaflets one or two inches broad; usually light-blotched. Scapes.—One to six inches long; one-flowered. Sepals.—Five. Petals.—Five; nine to twelve lines long; white or rose-colored, often veined with darker color; usually having an orange spot at base. Stamens.—Ten. Ovary.—Five-celled. Styles five. Hab.—Coast woods, from Santa Cruz to Washington.
In deep woods, “where no stir nor call the sacred hush profanes,” the beautiful leaves and delicate flowers of the redwood-sorrel cover the ground with an exquisite tapestry, which catches the shimmer of the sunlight as it sifts down through the tall trees. If the goddess Nanna in passing left the print of her pretty fingers upon the clover, perhaps some wood-nymph may have touched the leaves of this charming plant. Each day as twilight deepens, the leaflets fold gently together and prepare to sleep.
The small yellow oxalis—O. corniculata, L.—becomes a troublesome weed in our lawns.