Species

Oxalis corniculata subsp. corniculata

Etymology

Oxalis: From the Greek word oxus meaning acid or sharp

Common Name(s)

Creeping woodsorrel, horned oxalis

Authority

Oxalis corniculata L. subsp. corniculata

Family

Oxalidaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

OXACOR

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Habitat

Gardens, mostly in deeper soils and more shaded sites than var. atropurpurea.

Features

Prostrate to erect to almost semi-scrambling; lacking bulbs, has a wiry tap root; occasionally rooting at nodes, foliage and stems green, leaves glabrous or nearly so above, capsule hairs dense and touching, eglandular; seed 1.0-1.3 mm long, usually with 8-11 deep, ± acute ridges.

Similar Taxa

Oxalis corniculata var. atropurpurea is included in var. corniculata by many authorities. In NZ the two are often easy to distinguish by var. atropurpurea having purple foliage and stems, a thicker tap-root, and it grows in more arid sites. O. thompsoniae (q.v.) resembles var. corniculata but its capsules have dense retrorse pubescence overtopped by long, patent, septate hairs; its seeds are smooth or nearly so rather than ribbed.

Flower Colours

Yellow

Year Naturalised

1944

Origin

Almost cosmopolitan

Attribution

Fact sheet amended for NZPCN by C.C. Ogle, 12 Sept. 2014. Description adapted from Allan (1961).

References and further reading

Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand Volume IV, Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons: 916.

This page last updated on 27 Oct 2014