Oxalis debilis |
Oxalis grandis |
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pink wood-sorrel, world-wide wood-sorrel |
great yellow wood-sorrel |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, acaulous, rhizomes and stolons absent, bulblets clustered; bulb scales 3-nerved. | Herbs perennial, caulescent, rhizomes present, without tubers or tuberlike thickenings, stolons absent, bulbs absent. |
Aerial stems | 1(–3) from base, erect, (10–)25–60(–100) cm, herbaceous, glabrate to sparsely or densely pilose or villous, hairs ± straight, spreading, septate and nonseptate. |
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Leaves | basal; petiole 10–25 cm; leaflets 3, green to yellowish green, rounded-obcordate, 17–40(–50) mm, lobed 1/6–1/5 length, lobes apically convex, adaxial surface hirsute, adaxial surface glabrous, oxalate deposits in dots at least around distal margins, often evenly over surface. |
cauline, mostly on distal 1/2 of stem; stipules apparently absent; petiole 5–7.5 cm, hairs septate and nonseptate; leaflets 3, green, obcordate, 5–25(–30) mm, lobed 1/5 length, lobes apically usually rounded, rarely ± truncate, margins green or brownish purple, ciliate, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent. |
Inflorescences | irregular cymes, (3–)8–14(–28)-flowered; scapes 15–28 cm, moderately villous to glabrate. |
regular, irregular, or umbelliform cymes, 1–4(–8)-flowered; peduncles 7–12 cm. |
Flowers | mostly homostylous, infrequently tristylous; sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles; petals violet to lavender or rose purple, 10–16(–20) mm. |
tristylous, above level of leaves; sepal apices without tubercles; petals yellow, with or without faint red lines proximally, 10–14 mm. |
Capsules | not observed. |
ovoid to ovoid-oblong, 6–10 mm, sparsely puberulent. |
Seeds | brown, transverse ridges brown. |
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2n | = 14, 28, rarely 35. |
= 28. |
Oxalis debilis |
Oxalis grandis |
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Phenology | Flowering Dec–May, rarely again in summer. | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Fencerows, yards, flower beds, roadsides, disturbed areas, hammock margins, sandy live oak woods, mesic woods, stream and river terraces. | Sandy woods, alluvial soils. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 100–1100 m. (300–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; OR; SC; TX; WA; South America [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, Europe, se Asia (Malesia), Pacific Islands, Australia]
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AL; DC; GA; IN; KY; MD; NC; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV
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Discussion | Oxalis debilis appears to be spreading rapidly in the United States. The species produces numerous bulblets in a basal cluster and apparently also can spread laterally by production of bulblets at the tips of filiform roots or rhizomes; it can form large, dense colonies. A. Lourteig (1980) noted that plants of this species occasionally fruit but consistently reproduce through abundant bulblets. They apparently are seed-sterile in North America. Oxalis corymbosa and O. debilis were differentiated by A. Lourteig (2000) primarily by the distribution of oxalate deposits in the leaf lamina. In O. debilis, the dotlike deposits are crowded along the margins and absent to distinctly less abundant elsewhere. In O. corymbosa, the deposits are evenly distributed over the whole lamina. In their native range in South America, the two expressions are broadly sympatric and intermediates are common, as they are in the flora area. Intermediates have the oxalate dots along the margins as well as over the whole surface or sometimes mostly on the outer third of the blades, near the margins. There is no justification for formal recognition of two entities. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 152. | FNA vol. 12, p. 145. |
Parent taxa | Oxalidaceae > Oxalis | Oxalidaceae > Oxalis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Ionoxalis martiana, O. corymbosa, O. debilis subsp. corymbosa, O. debilis var. corymbosa, O. martiana | O. recurva, Xanthoxalis grandis |
Name authority | Kunth: in A. von Humboldt et al., Nov. Gen. Sp. 5(fol.): 183; 5(qto.): 236. (1822) | Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 21: 475. (1894) |
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