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Key to families | Table of families and genera

This text currently parallels The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition that is now available at the University of California Press.

Text appearing in blue on this page will not appear in the printed book; it will be displayed only on the Web. Specimen numbers are hyperlinked to records in the Consortium of California Herbaria data view where possible. Taxa are hyperlinked to entries in the Jepson Interchange via the "[Online Interchange]" link.

 

OXALIS
Roots fibrous or woody; bulbs, tubers, or rhizomes often present.
Stem: ± 0 or not.
Leaf: stipules 0 or small; leaflets 3, generally ± obcordate [not], generally entire, generally green.
Flower: petals clawed; styles erect or curved.
Fruit: cylindric to spheric, explosively dehiscent.
Seed: flat, often ridged; aril translucent.
500–950 species: especially temperate. (Greek: sour, from acidic taste) [Lourteig 2000 Bradea 7:201–629] Taxonomy difficult, needs study; generally heterostylous; many (especially aliens in CA except Oxalis micrantha) ornamental; some noxious weeds; oxalates may be TOXIC to livestock; Oxalis latifolia Kunth possibly naturalized in CCo (Keil 30389, just n of San Simeon), differs from Oxalis purpurea in having flowers in umbel-like cyme; Oxalis hirta L. an historical waif (no recent collections), excluded.
Unabridged references: [Eiten 1963 Amer Midl Naturalist 69:257–309; Lourteig 1975 Phytologia 42:57–1979; Turner 1994 Phytologia 77:1–7]

Key to Oxalis

1. Petals yellow to yellow-orange, drying ± red or not

2. Annual; fruit < 5 mm ..... O. micrantha

2' Perennial; fruit >= 6 mm or 0

3. Lvs in loose, ± basal rosette; bulbs present ..... O. pes-caprae

3' Lvs cauline; bulbs 0

4. Petals 12–20 mm; NCo ..... O. suksdorfii

4' Petals 5–12 mm; NCo, elsewhere

5. Petals generally < 8 mm; stem rooting at nodes; taproot fibrous ..... O. corniculata

5' Petals generally 8–12 mm; stem not rooting at nodes; taproot ± woody

6. Hairs generally sparse, appressed or arched upward; pedicels > 2 × fruit ..... O. californica

6' Hairs dense, generally spreading; pedicels < 2 × fruit ..... O. pilosa

1' Petals white to pink, red, purple-rose, or purple

7. Bulbs 0

8. Rhizome woody, not creeping; disturbed places ..... O. articulata subsp. rubra

8' Rhizome fleshy, creeping; ± undisturbed forests

9. Fls 1 ..... O. oregana

9' Fls 3–9 in umbel-like cyme ..... O. trilliifolia

7' Bulbs present

10. St elongate ..... O. incarnata

10' St ± 0

11. Fls in umbel-like cyme ..... [O. bowiei]

11' Fls 1 ..... [O. purpurea]

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Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].
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