Common Name: OXALIS FAMILY Habit: Annual, perennial herb [vine, shrub, tree]. Leaf: compound (palmate [pinnate, or leaflet 1]), alternate, often +- basal in rosettes or at stem or rhizome tips in clusters, generally petioled, stipules generally 0, leaflets generally sessile. Inflorescence: cyme, umbel- or raceme-like or not, or flowers 1, generally in axils; peduncle bracted. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; sepals 5, free or fused at base; petals 5, free or fused above base; stamens 10[15], fused below, of 2 lengths; pistil 1, ovary superior, chambers [3]5, placentas axile, styles [1]5, generally +- free. Fruit: generally capsule, loculicidal. Seed: generally arilled. Genera In Family: 5 genera, number of species uncertain: especially temperate. Note: Often heterostylous. eFlora Treatment Author: Chris Brinegar, Robert E. Preston & Robert Ornduff Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
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. 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. 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--7
Oxalis pes-caprae L.
NATURALIZED Habit: Perennial herb; bulbs many on rhizomes, root tips, < 2.5 cm, white to brown. Stem: generally underground, vertical, short. Leaf: < 40, in loose +- basal rosette at enlarged stem tip; petiole < 12 cm; leaflets < 3.5 cm, often purple-spotted, abaxially hairy. Inflorescence: umbel-like, < 20-flowered; peduncle < 30 cm. Flower: sepals < 7 mm, lanceolate to oblong, tips often with 2 orange tubercles; petals < 2.5 cm, yellow; filaments < 7 mm, hairy. Fruit: 0 in California. Ecology: Disturbed areas, roadsides, grassland, dunes; Elevation: < 820 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, NCoRO, n SNF, ScV, CW (exc SCoRI), SW (exc SnJt); Distribution Outside California: worldwide alien; native to southern Africa. Toxicity: Possibly TOXIC in quantity to sheep. Flowering Time: Jan--May Note: Cultivated as ornamental; common garden weed. Synonyms: Oxalis cernua Thunb. Jepson eFlora Author: Chris Brinegar, Robert E. Preston & Robert Ornduff Reference: Lourteig 2000 Bradea 7:201--629 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) View the CDFA Pest Rating page for Oxalis pes-caprae Weed listed by Cal-IPC Previous taxon: Oxalis oregana Next taxon: Oxalis pilosa
Botanical illustration including Oxalis pes-caprae
Citation for this treatment: Chris Brinegar, Robert E. Preston & Robert Ornduff 2012, Oxalis pes-caprae, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=35642, accessed on December 02, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 02, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Oxalis pes-caprae:
NCo, NCoRO, n SNF, ScV, CW (exc SCoRI), SW (exc SnJt)
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
