Oxalis debilis
Oxalis incarnata
pink wood-sorrel, world-wide wood-sorrel
crimson wood-sorrel, pale pink-sorrel
mostly 1–4 from base, mostly erect, 5–25 cm, herbaceous, glabrous.
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, usually in pseudowhorls of 4–8, sometimes opposite proximally;
stipules rudimentary;
petiole 2–5(–7) cm;
leaflets 3, green, sometimes purplish abaxially, obcordate, 6–10(–15) mm, lobed 1/4 length, lobes apically convex, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent.
irregular cymes, (3–)8–14(–28)-flowered;
scapes 15–28 cm, moderately villous to glabrate.
1-flowered;
peduncles 5–7 cm.
mostly homostylous, infrequently tristylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals violet to lavender or rose purple, 10–16(–20) mm.
stamen/style arrangement not seen;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals white to pale pinkish purple with darker veins, 10–20 mm.
not observed.
not seen.
= 14, 28, rarely 35.
Oxalis debilis
Oxalis incarnata
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.)
Oxalis incarnata is recognized by its rhizomatous habit, small leaves in pseudowhorls, and large, solitary, flowers with white to pink or purple petals. Plants apparently are seed-sterile in California.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
LA Plants
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
