Oxalis debilis
Oxalis intermedia
pink wood-sorrel, world-wide wood-sorrel
West Indian wood-sorrel
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.
basal, rarely absent at flowering;
petiole 10–22 cm;
leaflets 3, green, obtriangular to broadly obtriangular, 20–50 mm, lobed 1/5–1/3 length, lobes apically truncate, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent.
irregular cymes, (3–)8–14(–28)-flowered;
scapes 15–28 cm, moderately villous to glabrate.
umbelliform cymes, 3–12(–18)-flowered;
scapes 7–30 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy.
mostly homostylous, infrequently tristylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals violet to lavender or rose purple, 10–16(–20) mm.
semihomostylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals usually lavender to purple, less commonly pink or white, 8–12 mm.
not observed.
ellipsoid, 3–8 mm, glabrous.
= 14, 28, rarely 35.
Oxalis debilis
Oxalis intermedia
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 intermedia is recognized by a combination of its large, obtriangular leaflets; numerous, small flowers; and usually clustered bulbs. It was collected in California in 1934 and Massachusetts in 1940 but does not appear to have become naturalized in either state. Plants in the flora area are usually without fertile fruit.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
LA Plants
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
