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 Oxalis pes-caprae: Bermuda-buttercup
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Oxalis is the largest genus in the wood sorrel family Oxalidaceae. Of the approximately 900 known species in the Oxalidaceae, 800 belong to Oxalis. Many of the species are known as Wood Sorrel or Woodsorrel. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species diversity is particularly rich in tropical Brazil and Mexico and in South Africa.
These plants are annual or perennial. The leaves are divided into three to ten or more round, heart-shaped or lanceolate leaflets, arranged in a whorl with all the leaflets of roughly equal size. The majority of species have three leaflets; in these species, the leaves are superficially similar to those of some clovers, though clovers differ in having the leaflets not in a whorl, and of unequal size with two smaller side leaflets and one larger central leaflet. Some species exhibit rapid changes in leaf angle in response to temporarily high light intensity. The flowers have five petals, usually fused at the base, and ten stamens; the petal colour varies from white to pink, red or yellow. The fruit is a small capsule containing several seeds. The roots are often tuberous, and several species also reproduce vegetatively by production of bulbils, which detach to produce new plants.
Species
- Oxalis acetosella: Common wood sorrel, Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis adenophylla: Sauer Klee
- Oxalis albicans: Radishroot Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis albicans subsp. californica: California Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis albicans subsp. pilosa: Radishroot Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis alpina: Alpine Sorrel
- Oxalis ambigua
- Oxalis arenia
- Oxalis articulata: Pink-sorrel
- Oxalis ausensis
- Oxalis barrelieri: Lavender Sorrel
- Oxalis bowiei: Bowie's Wood-sorrel, Cape Shamrock
- Oxalis brasiliensis
- Oxalis bulbocastanum
- Oxalis caerulea: Blue Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis carnosa
- Oxalis callosa
- Oxalis commutata
- Oxalis compressa
- Oxalis convexula
- Oxalis corymbosa
- Oxalis corniculata: Procumbent Yellow-sorrel, Creeping Wood-sorrel or Sleeping Beauty
- Oxalis debilis
- Oxalis debilis var. corymbosa: Large-flowered Pink-sorrel
- Oxalis decaphylla: Ten-leaved Pink-sorrel or Tenleaf Woodsorrel
- Oxalis deppei: Iron Cross
- Oxalis depressa
- Oxalis dichondrifolia: Peonyleaf Woodsorrel
- Oxalis drummondii: Drummond's Woodsorrel or Chevron Oxalis
- Oxalis ecuadorensis
- Oxalis eggersii: Egger's Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis engleriana
- Oxalis enneaphylla: Scurvy-grass
- Oxalis europaea: Upright Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis fabaefolia
- Oxalis flava
- Oxalis fourcadei
- Oxalis frutescens: Shrubby Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis frutescens subsp. angustifolia: Shrubby Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis gigantea
- Oxalis glabra
- Oxalis goniorhiza
- Oxalis grandis: Great Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis hedysaroides: Fire Fern
- Oxalis hirta: Hairy Sorrel
- Oxalis illinoensis: Illinois Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis inaequalis
- Oxalis incarnata: Pale Pink-sorrel
- Oxalis intermedia: West Indian Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis laciniata
- Oxalis lasiandra: Mexican Shamrock
- Oxalis latifolia: Garden Pink-sorrel
- Oxalis livida
- Oxalis luederitzii
- Oxalis luteola
- Oxalis macrocarpa: Sorrel
- Oxalis mallobolva
- Oxalis massoniana
- Oxalis meisneri
- Oxalis melanosticta
- Oxalis micrantha
- Oxalis montana: Mountain Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis namaquana
- Oxalis nelsonii: Nelson's Sorrel
- Oxalis norlindiana
- Oxalis obliquifolia
- Oxalis obtusa
- Oxalis oregana: Redwood Sorrel
- Oxalis palmifrons
- Oxalis pardalis
- Oxalis pennelliana
- Oxalis peridicaria: syn. Oxalis lobata
- Oxalis pes-caprae: Bermuda-buttercup, soursob, or sour grass
- Oxalis polyphylla heptaphylla
- Oxalis priceae: Tufted Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis priceae subsp. colorea: Tufted Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis priceae subsp. priceae: Tufted Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis priceae subsp. texana: Texas Yellow-sorrel
- Oxalis puberula
- Oxalis purpurea: Purple Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis radicosa: Dwarf Woodsorrel
- Oxalis regnellii: False Shamrock
- Oxalis repens Thumb.
- Oxalis rosea: Annual Pink-sorrel
- Oxalis rubra: Red Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis rufescens
- Oxalis rugeliana: Coamo
- Oxalis schaeferi
- Oxalis spiralis: Spiral Sorrel
- Oxalis spiralis subsp. vulcanicola: Volcanic Sorrel or Velvet Oxalis
- Oxalis squamata
- Oxalis stricta: Common Yellow Oxalis or Sour-grass
- Oxalis tenuifolia
- Oxalis tetraphylla: Four-leaf Sorrel or Lucky Clover
- Oxalis tomentosa
- Oxalis triangularis: Love-plant
- Oxalis trilliifolia: Great Oxalis or Threeleaf Woodsorrel
- Oxalis tuberosa: Oca
- Oxalis versicolor
- Oxalis violacea: Violet Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis zeekoevleyensis
Also called the Sour Flower.
Uses
The edible tubers of the Oca (O. tuberosa), somewhat similar to a small potato, have long been cultivated for food in Colombia and elsewhere in the northern Andes mountains of South America. The edible leaves of Scurvy-grass Sorrel (O. enneaphylla) were eaten by sailors in southern South America as a source of vitamin C to avoid scurvy.
A characteristic of many members of this genus is that they contain oxalic acid, giving the leaves and flowers a sour taste, refreshing to chew in small amounts. However, in large amounts, these species are toxic, and interfere with proper digestion. In the past, it was a practice to extract crystals of calcium oxalate for use in treating diseases and as a salt called "sal acetosella", or "sorrel salt" (also known as "salt of lemon"). Nevertheless, the leaves of common wood sorrel are commonly thought to make a very good tea when dried.
Several species are grown as ornamental plants in gardens, while others, notably O. pes-caprae and O. corniculata, are pernicious invasive weeds in cultivation away from their native ranges. A species which regularly has leaves with four leaflets, O. tetraphylla, is sometimes misleadingly sold as "four-leaf clover", taking advantage of the mystical status of four-leaf clovers.
External links
- Plant Profile for Oxalis — USDA Plant Database
- Glossary of Archaic Chemical Terms: Sorrel
- Oxalis
- Pictures and Information of Oxalis adenophylla in Chile
- oxalis and trifolium quattrofolium [1]
- [2] — PBSWiki
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 22 September 2008, at 06:26.
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