Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis latifolia
African wood-sorrel, Bermuda buttercup, soursob
broad-leaf wood-sorrel, Mexican oxalis
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;
petiole (6–)10–25 cm;
leaflets 3, green, obtriangular to obcordate, (15–)25–40 mm, lobed 1/5–1/2 length, lobes apically rounded, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent.
umbelliform cymes, 2–12(–20)-flowered;
scapes often becoming fistulose proximally, 15–30 cm, sparsely villous to pilose.
umbelliform cymes, (3–)6–10(–12)-flowered;
scapes (7–)10–20(–30) cm, glabrous.
tristylous in diploids and tetraploids, consistently short-styled in pentaploids;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals deep golden yellow, 15–20 mm.
usually tristylous, rarely homostylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange, short to elongate, not confluent tubercles;
petals white to pale green proximally with green veins, purple to lavender or pink distally, 9–12 mm.
not seen.
cylindric, 4–6 mm, glabrous.
= 14, 28, 35.
= 14, 28, 42.
Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis latifolia
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.)
Collections of Oxalis latifolia from trans-Pecos Texas and eastern New Mexico were mostly identified by M. F. Denton (1973) as O. alpina and O. drummondii. Oxalis latifolia in the narrow sense (type from Campeche, Mexico), with somewhat angular leaflets, occurs in Mexico as far north as Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas. The northern populations tend to have more rounded leaflets and perhaps may be better identified by a different name, but they are neither O. alpina (with bulblet clusters) nor O. drummondii (with three-nerved bulb scales).
M. F. Denton (1973) observed that Oxalis latifolia probably consists of several races and perhaps hybrids with other species. A. Lourteig (2000) recognized four subspecies of O. latifolia. Her concept of subsp. latifolia restricted it to South America and the West Indies (even though the type was collected in Mexico); subsp. schraderiana (Kunth) Lourteig is entirely South American; and subsp. vespertilionis (Zuccarini) Lourteig occurs in montane Mexico south to Guatemala. She recognized subsp. galeottii (Turczaninow) Lourteig as occurring from Mexico into the United States. In contrast, most others have treated O. galeottii Turczaninow as a distinct species of central and southern Mexico, broadly sympatric with O. latifolia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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