Adjacent Words

oxalis definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any plant or flower of the genus Oxalis [syn: oxalis, sorrel, wood sorrel]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: New Latin, genus name, from Latin, wood sorrel, from Greek, from oxys sharp — more at oxygen Date: circa 1706 wood sorrel

Britannica Concise

Any of about 850 species of small herbaceous plants that make up the genus Oxalis, native mostly to S Africa and tropical and S. America. Most members are familiar garden ornamentals. The name (Greek for "acid") reflects the plant's sharp acidic taste. The common wood sorrel (O. acetosella) of E N. America and Britain is a small, stemless plant with cloverlike three-part leaves, whose leaflets fold back and droop at night. The flowers have five white, purple-veined petals. After the fruit splits open, the fleshy coat of the seed curls back elastically, ejecting the true seed.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any plant of the genus Oxalis, with trifoliate leaves and white or pink flowers. Etymology: L f. Gk f. oxus sour

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Oxalis Ox"a*lis, n. [L., a kind of sorrel, Gr. ???, fr. ???? sharp, pungent, acid.] (Bot.) A genus of plants, mostly herbs, with acid-tasting trifoliolate or multifoliolate leaves; -- called also wood sorrel.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. (Bot.) Sorrel.