The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Oxalis chnoodes

Etymology

Oxalis: From the Greek word oxus meaning acid or sharp

Common Name(s)

Oxalis

Authority

Oxalis chnoodes Lourteig

Family

Oxalidaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Habitat

So far only known from urban habitats (streetsides, cracked pavement, clogged gutters and drains, gardens and in plant nurseries as a contaminant of potted plants). Known from Auckland, Waiheke Island and Wanganui City.

Features

Perennial herb lacking bulbils and taproot. Stems numerous, basally woody, creeping or decumbent up to 0.8 m long, not rooting at nodes; emergent stems densely invested in silky-white, spreading ± retrorse hairs; hairs shedding with stem maturation. Leaves cauline, fasciculate, 3-foliolate; leaflets subsessile, obovate-cuneate, 4-16 × 4-18 mm, bilobed, pale green, glaucescent, sparsely to densely pubescent above, more densely hairy below, margins ciliate, sinus up to 1/5 leaflet length, lobes oblong to obovate, apices rounded, 2-12 mm apart; petioles usually 0.50-40.0 mm long, densely covered with spreading hairs; stipules ± conspicuous or minute up to 1.5 mm long, truncate to abruptly tapering to petiole, chartaceous, densely hairy, margins densely ciliate. Inflorescences axillary, 2-4-flowered; peduncles longer than leaves, densely covered with spreading hairs; pedicels erect. Sepals elliptic 3.0-4.5 mm long, ciliate; petals 6-12 mm long, pale yellow. Capsule subglobose to ellipsoid, usually 7-9 mm long, retrorse-hairy with simple and septate hairs; seeds transversely ribbed.

Similar Taxa

From Oxalis corniculata, O. chnoodes is distinguished by the stout, woody taproot (usually absent in O. corniculata, or if present then fleshy), white, heavily tomentose stems, petioles, petiolules, leaf undersides and laminal margins (rather than glabrescent to hairy (but not densely so) in O. corniculata), and densely ciliate, conspicuous to minute, tapering, truncate stipules with round distal portions (rather than very large, conspicuous, bluntly truncate, sparsely hairy to glabrous in O. corniculata).

Flowering

Year round

Flower Colours

Yellow

Fruiting

Year round

Year Naturalised

2005

Origin

Probably Eastern Australia

Control Techniques

<b>Disposal Method</b><br>As for other Oxalis<br><br>

This page last updated on 3 Mar 2010