Oxalis debilis |
Oxalis purpurea |
|
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pink wood-sorrel, world-wide wood-sorrel |
purple oxalis, purple wood-sorrel |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, acaulous, rhizomes and stolons absent, bulblets clustered; bulb scales 3-nerved. | Herbs perennial, acaulous, rhizomes present, slender, sparsely scaly, stolons absent, bulb solitary, 1–2.5 cm, or with clustered bulblets; bulb scales black, thickened, not prominently nerved. |
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. |
basal, rarely absent at flowering; petiole (1.5–)3–5 cm; leaflets 3, green to deep purple abaxially, green adaxially, broadly obovate to obtriangular or broadly rounded-rhombic, 10–20 mm, not lobed, apex truncate to rounded or obtuse, rarely slightly emarginate, margins and abaxial surface hairy, adaxial surface glabrous, oxalate deposits absent. |
Inflorescences | irregular cymes, (3–)8–14(–28)-flowered; scapes 15–28 cm, moderately villous to glabrate. |
1-flowered; scapes 1.5–6(–8) cm, sparsely to moderately villous, hairs eglandular. |
Flowers | mostly homostylous, infrequently tristylous; sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles; petals violet to lavender or rose purple, 10–16(–20) mm. |
tristylous; sepal apices without tubercles; petals yellow basally, usually purple to red, pink, salmon, or white, rarely yellow, distally, 25–35 mm. |
Capsules | not observed. |
not seen. |
2n | = 14, 28, rarely 35. |
|
Oxalis debilis |
Oxalis purpurea |
|
Phenology | Flowering Dec–May, rarely again in summer. | Flowering Feb–Apr. |
Habitat | Fencerows, yards, flower beds, roadsides, disturbed areas, hammock margins, sandy live oak woods, mesic woods, stream and river terraces. | Waste places, especially near gardens. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 20–100 m. (100–300 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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CA; s Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Europe, Australia] |
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.) |
Oxalis purpurea is widely cultivated as an ornamental because of its large, solitary flowers in many color forms, borne on short scapes barely higher than the level of the leaves. Plants of O. purpurea apparently do not produce fertile fruit in California, where it is naturalized in scattered central and southern coastal counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 152. | FNA vol. 12, p. 148. |
Parent taxa | Oxalidaceae > Oxalis | Oxalidaceae > Oxalis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Ionoxalis martiana, O. corymbosa, O. debilis subsp. corymbosa, O. debilis var. corymbosa, O. martiana | O. variabilis |
Name authority | Kunth: in A. von Humboldt et al., Nov. Gen. Sp. 5(fol.): 183; 5(qto.): 236. (1822) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 433. (1753) |
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