Oxalidaceae

                            (Cronquist,1981)
Herb, often with tubers or bulbs, or sometimes half-shrubs or shrubs, rarely (Averrhoa and Sarcothea) small trees, commonly accumulating both soluble and crystalline oxalates, generally with scatterred tannifer our secretory cella and accumulating proanthocyanins, but without ellagic Avid and only seldom cyanogenic, nodes ttilacunar, stem on herbs with a ring of vascular bundles sometimes becoming connected by the activity of an interfascicular cambium, vessel-segments with simple perforations, in Woody forms the imperforate tracheary elements septate and with simple pita, the raya uniseriate, heterocellular and scanty. Leaves alternante, palmately or pinnately compoud or often trifoliolate, sometimes unifoliolate, often exhibiting sleep- movements, with the leaflets folder at night, stomates paracytic, mesophyll, at least in oxalis, commonly with scatterred secretory cavities containing red or brown substances, petiole commonly with a ring of vascular bundles, stipules usually wanting. Flower in axillary, often pedunculate, cymose inflorescences that maybe reduced to a single flower, perfect, hypogynous, regular, pentamerous, mostly showing trimorphic heterostyly, sometimes some of them cleistogamous and apetalous, sepal 5, distinct, imbricate, petals 5 convolute or seldom imbricate, distinct or sometimes slightly connate at the base, stamens generally 10, more or less distinctly bicyclic, with the outer filaments shorter and antepetalous, the filaments all connate at the base, sometimes 5 of them without anthers, rarely the stament 15 on 3 series, nectary-disk wanting, but often the outer filaments thickened and nectariferous below, or a nectary-gland borne at the outer base of the antepetalous staments, anthers tetrasporangiate and dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits, pollen grains binucleate or seldom trinucleate, commonly tricolpate or tricolporate, gynoecium of 5 carpels united to form a compoud, plurilocular ovary with axile placentas and distinct, persistent styles, rarely with a single style, stigmas commonly capitate or punctate, sometimes bilobed, ovules (1) 2- several in each locule, epitropous and more or less pendulous, with the micropyle directed outward and upward, anatropous or sometimes hemitropous, bitegmic, tenuinucellar, endosperm-development nuclear, fruit a loculicidal capsule, or rarely (Averrhoa) a berry, seeds commonly with a Basal aril that serves in their expulsion from the capsule, embryo large, sraight, spatulate, with 2 cotyledons, embedded in the usually copious, oily fleshy endosperm. The family oxalidaceae consists of 7 or 8 genera and about 900 species.