Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis violacea
African wood-sorrel, Bermuda buttercup, soursob
purple woodsorrel, violet wood-sorrel
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, rarely absent at flowering;
petiole (4–)7–13(–24) cm;
leaflets 3, green to purple abaxially, green adaxially, often with purplish, lateral band across lobes of each leaflet, rounded-obcordate to obreniform, (5–)8–15(–20) mm, lobed 1/4–1/3 length, lobes apically convex, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits in lines along margins at base of notch.
umbelliform cymes, 2–12(–20)-flowered;
scapes often becoming fistulose proximally, 15–30 cm, sparsely villous to pilose.
umbelliform cymes, (1–)2–8(–19)-flowered;
scapes (6–)9–23(–31) 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.
distylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange, linear, apically confluent tubercles;
petals white to pale green proximally with green veins, rose purple or lavender to pink or white distally, 10–18 mm.
not seen.
ovoid, 4–5 mm, glabrous.
= 14, 28, 35.
= 28.
Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis violacea
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 violacea in the flora area is native to the eastern United States, reaching westward as far as the line of states from North Dakota to Texas; it is apparently non-native in Oregon and Wyoming, if those plants are correctly identified. Plants identified by M. F. Denton (1973) as O. violacea and those considered to have affinity to that species from Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico are identified here as O. latifolia and O. metcalfei.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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