Oxalis laxa |
Oxalis purpurea |
|
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dwarf wood-sorrel |
purple oxalis, purple wood-sorrel |
|
Habit | Herbs annual, caulescent, sometimes densely cespitose, rhizomes and stolons absent, bulbs absent. | 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. |
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, 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 | racemes, 6–14-flowered; peduncles 3–15 cm. |
1-flowered; scapes 1.5–6(–8) cm, sparsely to moderately villous, hairs eglandular. |
Flowers | heterostylous; sepal apices without tubercles; petals yellow, 6–12 mm. |
tristylous; sepal apices without tubercles; petals yellow basally, usually purple to red, pink, salmon, or white, rarely yellow, distally, 25–35 mm. |
Capsules | ovoid to spheric, 3–5 mm, puberulent. |
not seen. |
Oxalis laxa |
Oxalis purpurea |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Feb–Apr. |
Habitat | Disturbed sites, riparian woodlands, riverbanks, gravelly beaches, rock crevices, foothill woodlands. | Waste places, especially near gardens. |
Elevation | 10–800 m. (0–2600 ft.) | 20–100 m. (100–300 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; South America (Chile) [Introduced in North America] |
CA; s Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Europe, Australia] |
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 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. 145. | FNA vol. 12, p. 148. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | O. corniculata var. sericea, O. micrantha, O. radicosa, O. simulans | O. variabilis |
Name authority | Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 13. (1830) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 433. (1753) |
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