Oxalis

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Oxalis, Wood Sorrel

Oxalis pes-caprae: Bermuda-buttercup

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Oxalidales
Family:	Oxalidaceae
Genus:	Oxalis

Species

See text.

acetosella

The yellow Oxalis pes-caprae that grows in Israel.

Oxalis violacea

Wood Oxalis - Warren County, OH

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.

[edit] 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 articulata: Pink-sorrel
Oxalis barrelieri: Lavender Sorrel
Oxalis bowiei: Cape Shamrock
Oxalis caerulea: Blue Wood-sorrel
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 dichondrifolia: Peonyleaf Woodsorrel
Oxalis drummondii: Drummond's Woodsorrel or Chevron Oxalis
Oxalis eggersii: Egger's Wood-sorrel
Oxalis enneaphylla: Scurvy-grass
Oxalis europaea: Upright Yellow-sorrel
Oxalis fourcadei
Oxalis frutescens: Shrubby Wood-sorrel
- Oxalis frutescens subsp. angustifolia: Shrubby Wood-sorrel
Oxalis grandis: Great Yellow-sorrel
Oxalis hedysaroides: Fire Fern
Oxalis hirta: Hairy Sorrel
Oxalis illinoensis: Illinois Wood-sorrel
Oxalis incarnata: Pale Pink-sorrel
Oxalis intermedia: West Indian Wood-sorrel
Oxalis lasiandra: Mexican Shamrock
Oxalis latifolia: Garden Pink-sorrel
Oxalis macrocarpa: Sorrel
Oxalis montana: Mountain Wood-sorrel
Oxalis nelsonii: Nelson's Sorrel
Oxalis oregana: Redwood Sorrel
Oxalis pes-caprae: Bermuda-buttercup
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 purpurea: Purple Wood-sorrel
Oxalis radicosa: Dwarf Woodsorrel
Oxalis rosea: Annual Pink-sorrel
Oxalis rubra: Red Wood-sorrel
Oxalis rugeliana: Coamo
Oxalis spiralis: Spiral Sorrel
- Oxalis spiralis subsp. vulcanicola: Volcanic Sorrel or Velvet Oxalis
Oxalis stricta: Common Yellow Oxalis or Sour-grass
Oxalis tetraphylla: Four-leaf Sorrel or Lucky Clover
Oxalis triangularis: Love-plant
Oxalis trilliifolia: Great Oxalis or Threeleaf Woodsorrel
Oxalis tuberosa: Oca
Oxalis violacea: Violet Wood-sorrel

[edit] 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").

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.