Habit: 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.
Species In Genus: 500--950 species: especially temperate.
Etymology: (Greek: sour, from acidic taste)
Note: Taxonomy difficult, needs study; generally heterostylous; many (especially aliens in California except
Oxalis micrantha) ornamental; some noxious weeds; oxalates may be TOXIC to livestock;
Oxalis latifolia Kunth possibly naturalized in CCo (Keil 30389, just north of San Simeon), differs from
Oxalis purpurea in having flowers in umbel-like cyme;
Oxalis hirta L. an historical waif (no recent collections), excluded.
Jepson eFlora Author: Chris Brinegar, Robert E. Preston & Robert Ornduff
Reference: Lourteig 2000 Bradea 7:201--629
Unabridged Reference: Eiten 1963 Amer Midl Naturalist 69:257--309; Lourteig 1975 Phytologia 42:57--1979; Turner 1994 Phytologia 77:1--7Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Oxalis
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