Oxalis articulata
Oxalis metcalfei
pink oxalis, pink sorrell, windowbox wood-sorrel
Metcalfe's 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 7–15 cm;
leaflets 3, green, obtriangular-obcordate, 11–25 mm, lobed 1/6–1/3 length, lobes apically rounded to shallowly convex, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits usually in narrow band 0.5–1.5 mm along margins at base of notch, sometimes evident on one surface but not other, rarely absent.
usually umbelliform cymes, less commonly in irregular cymes, 3–12-flowered;
scapes 12–28 cm, sparsely strigose.
umbelliform cymes, 3–7-flowered;
scapes 7–22 cm, glabrous.
heterostylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals usually purplish rose to red, rarely white, 10–14 mm.
tristylous and distylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange, narrow-elongate, nonconfluent tubercles;
petals white to pale green proximally with green veins, purplish to lavender or pink distally, (9–)12–16 mm.
ovoid, 4–8 mm, sparsely strigose.
cylindric, 6 mm, glabrous.
= 42.
= 28, 42.
Oxalis articulata
Oxalis metcalfei
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 metcalfei has mostly been identified as O. alpina (Rose) Rose ex R. Knuth, but the latter is a species of south-central Mexico, far from the populations in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Oxalis alpina has leaflets with dotlike oxalate deposits scattered throughout the lamina, concentrated near margins, or as continuous, filiform marginal bands around the lobe apices; the corollas usually are white. Oxalis metcalfei is consistently different in the nature of its foliar oxalate deposits and the corollas usually are purplish to lavender or pink.
Plants with chromosome numbers of 2n = 28 are found in both Arizona and New Mexico; those with 2n = 42 are found only in New Mexico (S. C. Weller and M. F. Denton 1976).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
LA Plants
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
SW CO Wildflowers
