Oxalis drummondii
Oxalis triangularis
Drummond's wood-sorrel
purple shamrock, scurvy grass
basal;
petiole 5–16 cm;
leaflets 3, green, sometimes with red splotches in irregular medial band adaxially, obtriangular to obcordate, (6–)14–34 mm, lobed 1/4–4/5 length, lobes apically convex to nearly truncate, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent.
basal, rarely absent at flowering;
petiole 12–20 cm;
leaflets 3, dark purple, commonly with lighter violet splotches radiating from midvein adaxially, obtriangular to obovate-triangular, (20–)30–50(–60) mm, lobed 1/10 length or apex merely notched, lobes apically truncate to slightly convex, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent or in short, marginal lines on both sides of notch.
umbelliform cymes, 3–10-flowered;
scapes (7–)11–23 cm, glabrous.
umbelliform cymes, (1–)2–5(–9)-flowered;
scapes 15–35 cm, glabrous.
distylous or rarely homostylous;
sepal apices with 2(–6) orange, linear, thickened, apically confluent tubercles;
petals white to pale green proximally with green veins, pink to violet or purple-violet distally, (8–)15–23 mm.
heterostylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals white to pinkish or pale purple, 15–22 mm.
cylindric, 4–12 mm, hairy.
ovoid-ellipsoid, 12–18 mm, glabrous.
= 14.
Oxalis drummondii
Oxalis triangularis
Oxalis drummondii is found in the flora area in central and southern Texas. Reports of this species from Arizona, New Mexico, and trans-Pecos Texas are based on misidentifications of O. latifolia and O. metcalfei.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
In East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, north of Baton Rouge, Oxalis triangularis has spread from a planter pot into adjacent woods (G. F. Guala, pers. comm.). In Leon County, Florida, a population is growing and slowly spreading at the edge of a woodland remnant within the city of Tallahassee (L. C. Anderson, pers. comm.).
A. Lourteig (2000) recognized two subspecies sympatric over much of their native ranges (as cited, subsp. triangularis in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, subsp. papilionacea in Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru) and differing by the following contrasts: subsp. triangularis has sepals acute, oxalate tubercles small or absent, and petals white to purplish, three to four times longer than the sepals; subsp. papilionacea has sepals obtuse to subacute with oxalate tubercles thickened, and petals pink to purplish, rarely white, about two to two and a half times longer than the sepals. With these subtle differences and broad sympatry, it seems probable that only a single evolutionary entity exists. In any case, the few North American collections studied here would be Oxalis triangularis in the strict sense. Forms of O. triangularis are sometimes recognized as “atropurpurea” but apparently this is a horticultural name.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
