Oxalis articulata
Oxalis brasiliensis
pink oxalis, pink sorrell, windowbox wood-sorrel
Brazilian wood-sorrel
basal;
petiole 11–30 cm;
leaflets 3, green to purplish abaxially, green adaxially, rounded-obcordate, 18–20 mm, margins densely loosely ciliate, lobed 1/5–1/3 length, lobes apically convex, surfaces evenly strigose-villous to strigose-hirsute, oxalate deposits in dots concentrated mostly toward margins or over whole surface.
basal;
petiole often purplish proximally, 3–13[–20] cm, glabrous [sparsely and finely strigose];
leaflets 3, light green, obdeltate with rounded angles, [2–]10–21[–32] mm, lobed 1/10–1/20 length, lobes apically shallowly convex to nearly truncate, margins glabrous or sparsely irregularly ciliate, hairs loose, fine, abaxial surface sparsely but evenly strigose, adaxial surface glabrous, oxalate deposits absent.
usually umbelliform cymes, less commonly in irregular cymes, 3–12-flowered;
scapes 12–28 cm, sparsely strigose.
umbelliform cymes, 1(–2)[–5]-flowered;
scapes 14–17[–30] cm, glabrous.
heterostylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals usually purplish rose to red, rarely white, 10–14 mm.
apparently tristylous (mid-styled flowers observed);
sepals purplish, apices without tubercles, surfaces glabrous;
petals violet-purple, with dark purple veins proximally, 18–20 mm.
ovoid, 4–8 mm, sparsely strigose.
narrowly cylindric, 15–22 mm, indumentum not seen.
= 42.
Oxalis articulata
Oxalis brasiliensis
Oxalis articulata in the United States commonly has been identified as O. rubra. Oxalis rubra was treated at subspecific rank by A. Lourteig (1982), but subsp. articulata and subsp. rubra have essentially the same native range and occur in similar habitats. Lourteig identified both subspecies in the United States, noting in her key that vestiture is reduced and the sepals are broader in subsp. rubra. Evidence is weak for recognizing more than a single entity. In the Flora of Panama (Lourteig 1980), she recognized only O. articulata, noting that it is naturalized in other parts of America and in the Old World.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Oxalis brasiliensis is naturalized in Dallas County (H. E. Horne et al. 2013). The species is recognized by its leaves without oxalate deposits and sepals without tubercles; outer bulb scales with five to eight (to 13) nerves; one or two (or three) flowers per scape; and violet-purple, dark purple-veined corollas. The large, showy flowers make this species popular in the horticultural trade (see http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/SouthAmericanOxalis#brasiliensis for additional horticultural information on the species). Growth habit in the Dallas County population ranged from small clumps to dense mats along the roadside, extending to the margin of the woodland.
A low percentage of the Dallas County Oxalis brasiliensis population was reproducing by tiny propagules produced at the bract region of the scape. These propagules apparently are highly foreshortened stems, as they produce whorls of small leaves; they do not produce scales and thus are not the so-called aerial bulbils, as in the miniature bulbs described in some South African species (see http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/SouthAfricanOxalis).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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