Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis texana
African wood-sorrel, Bermuda buttercup, soursob
Texas wood-sorrel
usually 2–6 from base, erect to ascending, 5–15 cm, becoming woody proximally, usually evenly strigose to strigillose from base to peduncles and pedicels, hairs straight, antrorsely appressed to closely ascending, (rarely Louisiana plants proximally villous, hair spreading), 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 usually very narrowly flanged, apical auricles usually slightly free;
petiole 2–6 cm, hairs nonseptate;
leaflets 3, green to purple, cordate, (4–)6–12(–18) mm, lobed 1/5–1/3 length, abaxial surface sparsely strigose, adaxial surface glabrous or sparsely strigose, oxalate deposits absent.
umbelliform cymes, 2–12(–20)-flowered;
scapes often becoming fistulose proximally, 15–30 cm, sparsely villous to pilose.
umbelliform cymes, very rarely irregular cymes, (2–)3–5(–8)-flowered;
peduncles 4–10 cm.
tristylous in diploids and tetraploids, consistently short-styled in pentaploids;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals deep golden yellow, 15–20 mm.
distylous;
sepal apices without tubercles;
petals yellow, with prominent red lines proximally, (10–)12–16(–17) mm (Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas) or 6–12 mm (Alabama).
not seen.
angular-cylindric, abruptly tapering to apex, 8–15 mm, moderately to densely puberulent to puberulent-villous.
brown, transverse ridges white.
= 14, 28, 35.
Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis texana
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 texana is similar to O. dillenii in its evenly strigose to strigillose stems but differs primarily in its more numerous flowers per inflorescence and larger, distylous flowers with red-lined corolla throats. Plants of O. dillenii with larger flowers on elevated peduncles might be mistaken for O. texana, yet the two taxa exist sympatrically in the range of O. texana and it is clear that they are separate species.
All Alabama plants identified as Oxalis texana (weighting orientation of cauline vestiture in the identifications) are from Dauphin Island and localities in and around Mobile. Compared to those in Louisiana and Texas, the Alabama plants have shorter petals [6–12 mm versus (10–)12–16(–17) mm], a more colonial habit (usually with long, lateral, stolonlike branches versus commonly with short basal offsets), and they grow in disturbed sites (versus mostly undisturbed sites, usually within woods). It is plausible that they may prove to be more closely related to O. colorea than to the western O. texana.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
