Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis colorea
African wood-sorrel, Bermuda buttercup, soursob
Small's wood-sorrel
usually 1–4 from base, mostly erect, 5–15(–25) cm, often becoming woody proximally, hirsute-pilose proximally, hairs curved, irregularly spreading or slightly deflexed, sometimes ± antrorse on peduncles and pedicels, nonseptate.
basal, rarely absent at flowering;
petiole 3–12 cm;
leaflets 3, green, rarely mottled with purplish red spots, angular-obcordate, (5–)7–20 mm, lobed 1/4–2/5 length, lobes apically convex, margins and abaxial surface villous, adaxial surface glabrous, oxalate deposits absent.
basal and cauline;
stipules oblong, margins narrowly flanged or without free portions, apical auricles absent;
petiole 2–7 cm;
leaflets 3, green, obcordate, 3–8 mm, lobed 1/5–1/3 length, surfaces usually sparsely strigose-hirsute, sometimes glabrate, oxalate deposits absent.
umbelliform cymes, 2–12(–20)-flowered;
scapes often becoming fistulose proximally, 15–30 cm, sparsely villous to pilose.
usually umbelliform cymes, sometimes irregular cymes, (1–)2–4(–5)-flowered;
peduncles (3–)5–10(–15) cm.
strigose, hairs short, curved antrorsely.
tristylous in diploids and tetraploids, consistently short-styled in pentaploids;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals deep golden yellow, 15–20 mm.
tristylous, well above level of leaves;
sepals 3.5–5 mm, apices without tubercles;
petals yellow to orange-yellow, usually with prominent, rarely faint, red lines proximally, very rarely lines absent, 9–15 mm.
not seen.
angular-cylindric, abruptly tapering to apex, 6–16 mm, glabrate to puberulent or sparsely hirsute-strigose, hairs short, sometimes only along angles or at apex.
brown, transverse ridges usually white.
= 14, 28, 35.
Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis colorea
Outside its native range, Oxalis pes-caprae is mostly represented by a sterile pentaploid morph, although tetraploids also are known. The occurrence of both pentaploid and tetraploid individuals in the exotic range may be the result of independent introductions (P. Michael 1964; R. Ornduff 1986). Fruit production has not been observed in North America, and the plants are assumed to be seed-sterile (Ornduff 1987). Bulbs of O. pes-caprae are rarely collected, as they detach easily from the vertical, rootlike stems. Each bulb may produce over 20, small, whitish bulblets each year. Bulblets may also be formed at the soil surface crown.
Oxalis pes-caprae was reported by J. K. Small (1933) to occur in waste places and cultivated grounds in northern Florida, but as noted by D. B. Ward (2004), no Florida specimens are known.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Oxalis colorea is common in southeastern Alabama, Mississippi, and probably the northern half of Georgia; outliers apparently occur in a wider area toward the north and northeast. Scattered variants from widely scattered localities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, from within the geographic range of O. colorea, have the habit and prominently red-lined petals of O. colorea; stem hairs are relatively long but are antrorsely oriented, as in O. florida.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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