Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Oxalis laxa

Oxalis oregana

dwarf wood-sorrel

Oregon oxalis, Oregon wood-sorrel, red wood-sorrel
Habit Herbs annual, caulescent, sometimes densely cespitose, rhizomes and stolons absent, bulbs absent. Herbs perennial, acaulous, rhizomes present, fleshy-thickened, densely scaly, stolons absent, bulbs absent.
Aerial stems

1–5 from base, erect, 0.5–7 cm, usually herbaceous, sometimes becoming ± woody proximally, hirtellous to villous-hirtellous.

Leaves

cauline;

stipules rudimentary;

petiole 1.5–6 cm;

leaflets 3, green, obcordate, 5–12 mm, lobed 1/5 length, lobes apically convex, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent.

basal, clustered at rhizome tips;

petiole 5–15(–21) cm, sparsely to densely villous, hairs rusty;

leaflets 3, green, broadly obcordate, 10–30(–40) mm, lobed 1/5–1/4 length, lobes apically convex, surfaces sparsely villous, oxalate deposits absent.
Inflorescences

racemes, 6–14-flowered;

peduncles 3–15 cm.

1-flowered;

scapes (6–)11–25 cm, glabrous or sparsely villous.
Flowers

heterostylous;

sepal apices without tubercles;

petals yellow, 6–12 mm.

heterostylous;

sepal apices without tubercles;

petals white to deep pink, usually with yellow spot sub-basally and prominent purple veins, (8–)15–25 mm.
Capsules

ovoid to spheric, 3–5 mm, puberulent.

ovoid, 6–8(–12) mm, glabrate.

Oxalis laxa

Oxalis oregana
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun. Flowering Feb–Sep.
Habitat Disturbed sites, riparian woodlands, riverbanks, gravelly beaches, rock crevices, foothill woodlands. Douglas fir, mixed fir, cedar-spruce, mixed conifer, and hemlock-maple forests, maple woodlands, alder glens, Gaultheria thickets, stream banks.
Elevation 10–800 m. (0–2600 ft.) 10–800(–1000) m. (0–2600(–3300) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; South America (Chile) [Introduced in North America]
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Oxalis laxa is widespread in California in the eastern part of the Central Valley and along the central coast.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Oxalis oregana has sometimes been treated as a disjunct geographical taxon of the European O. acetosella Linnaeus (see comments under 21. O. montana).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 145. FNA vol. 12, p. 148.
Parent taxa Oxalidaceae > Oxalis Oxalidaceae > Oxalis
Sibling taxa
O. albicans, O. articulata, O. bowiei, O. brasiliensis, O. caerulea, O. californica, O. colorea, O. corniculata, O. debilis, O. decaphylla, O. dichondrifolia, O. dillenii, O. drummondii, O. florida, O. frutescens, O. grandis, O. hirta, O. hispidula, O. illinoensis, O. incarnata, O. intermedia, O. latifolia, O. macrantha, O. metcalfei, O. montana, O. oregana, O. pes-caprae, O. pilosa, O. purpurea, O. stricta, O. suksdorfii, O. texana, O. triangularis, O. trilliifolia, O. violacea
O. albicans, O. articulata, O. bowiei, O. brasiliensis, O. caerulea, O. californica, O. colorea, O. corniculata, O. debilis, O. decaphylla, O. dichondrifolia, O. dillenii, O. drummondii, O. florida, O. frutescens, O. grandis, O. hirta, O. hispidula, O. illinoensis, O. incarnata, O. intermedia, O. latifolia, O. laxa, O. macrantha, O. metcalfei, O. montana, O. pes-caprae, O. pilosa, O. purpurea, O. stricta, O. suksdorfii, O. texana, O. triangularis, O. trilliifolia, O. violacea
Synonyms O. corniculata var. sericea, O. micrantha, O. radicosa, O. simulans O. acetosella subsp. oregana, O. oregana var. smalliana, O. oregana var. tracyi, O. smalliana
Name authority Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 13. (1830) Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 211. (1838)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers