Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Oxalis articulata

Oxalis trilliifolia

pink oxalis, pink sorrell, windowbox wood-sorrel

great oxalis, great wood-sorrel, three leaf woodsorrel, trillium leaf oxalis, trillium-leaf wood-sorrel
Habit Herbs perennial, acaulous, rhizomes present, thick, woody, irregularly nodulate-segmented, often covered with persistent petiole bases, stolons absent, bulbs absent. Herbs perennial, acaulous, rhizomes present, fleshy-thickened, densely scaly, stolons absent, bulbs absent.
Leaves

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, clustered at rhizome tips;

petiole 15–30 cm;

leaflets 3, green, broadly obcordate, 20–40(–60) mm, lobed 1/6–1/4 length, lobes apically convex, surfaces sparsely villous, oxalate deposits absent.
Inflorescences

usually umbelliform cymes, less commonly in irregular cymes, 3–12-flowered;

scapes 12–28 cm, sparsely strigose.

umbelliform cymes, 2–9(–15)-flowered;

scapes 15–25 cm, glabrous or sparsely villous.
Flowers

heterostylous;

sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;

petals usually purplish rose to red, rarely white, 10–14 mm.

heterostylous;

sepal apices without tubercles;

petals white to pinkish, sometimes greenish proximally, without prominent veins, 8–14 mm.
Capsules

ovoid, 4–8 mm, sparsely strigose.

narrowly fusiform, 15–25(–30) mm, glabrous.
2n

= 42.

Oxalis articulata

Oxalis trilliifolia
Phenology Flowering Mar–Jul. Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Disturbed places, especially near gardens, lawns, fields, roadsides. Redwood, spruce-fir, Douglas fir, hemlock, hemlock-cedar, hemlock-alder woodlands, stream margins, swamps.
Elevation 0–250 m. [0–800 ft.] 20–1800 m. [70–5900 ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; OK; OR; SC; TX; VA; South America (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Europe, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; OR; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 153. FNA vol. 12, p. 147.
Parent taxa Oxalidaceae > Oxalis Oxalidaceae > Oxalis
Sibling taxa
O. albicans, O. bowiei, O. brasiliensis, O. caerulea, O. californica, O. colorea, O. corniculata, O. debilis, O. decaphylla, O. dichondrifolia, O. dillenii, O. drummondii, O. florida, O. frutescens, O. grandis, O. hirta, O. hispidula, O. illinoensis, O. incarnata, O. intermedia, O. latifolia, O. laxa, O. macrantha, O. metcalfei, O. montana, O. oregana, O. pes-caprae, O. pilosa, O. purpurea, O. stricta, O. suksdorfii, O. texana, O. triangularis, O. trilliifolia, O. violacea
O. albicans, O. articulata, O. bowiei, O. brasiliensis, O. caerulea, O. californica, O. colorea, O. corniculata, O. debilis, O. decaphylla, O. dichondrifolia, O. dillenii, O. drummondii, O. florida, O. frutescens, O. grandis, O. hirta, O. hispidula, O. illinoensis, O. incarnata, O. intermedia, O. latifolia, O. laxa, O. macrantha, O. metcalfei, O. montana, O. oregana, O. pes-caprae, O. pilosa, O. purpurea, O. stricta, O. suksdorfii, O. texana, O. triangularis, O. violacea
Synonyms O. articulata subsp. rubra, O. rubra Hesperoxalis trilliifolia
Name authority Savigny: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 4: 686. (1798) Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 118. (1831) — (as trilliifolium)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers