Oxalis latifolia Kunth
fishtail oxalis
Perennial acaulous herb with thick, fleshy, glassy white, contractile root below the main bulb which is surrounded by numerous small bulbils; tunic brown; scales 3-7-nerved. Lvs 3-foliolate. Petiole (5)-10-50 cm long, glabrous or sparsely hairy; stipular wing broad, membranous, long-ciliate. Lamina of leaflets equal or nearly so, sessile, 12-50 × 18-80 mm, broadly fishtail-shaped, shallowly and broadly 2-lobed, glabrous except for ± hairy base, finely reticulate beneath, not punctate; calli 0 or inconspicuous. Infl. c. 10-50 cm tall, pseudoumbellate, c. 5-15-(20)-flowered, glabrous or nearly so; pedicels very variable in length, ± deflexed at first, usually glabrous. Bracts at pedicel base, c. 3 mm long, lacking calli. Sepals 3-5.5 mm long, lanceolate-elliptic to elliptic, glabrous; calli 2, orange, prominent, apical. Petals c. 1.2-1.5 cm long, oblong-obovate, pink, glabrous. Stamens at 2 levels; filaments of longer set c. 4-5 mm long, hirsute above, glabrous and dilated below, shorter set sparingly hairy. Styles < stamens, glabrous or hairy. Capsule not seen.
N.: widespread and often abundant; S.: N. half; K.: Raoul Id.
Tropical S. America 1958
A very bad weed of cultivated and waste ground, particularly in open places with loose soil but sometimes amongst taller vegetation.
FL Nov-Jun.
O. latifolia is somewhat less widespread than the related O. debilis, but where it occurs is generally common and often abundant. If not checked it can cover recently cultivated soil with a dense mass of foliage which arises from the numerous small bulbils scattered during cultivation. Fishtail oxalis is present in N.Z. as the short-styled form only, but there are minor differences between plants such as the hairiness of the fl. parts and pedicels. O. intermedia A. Rich. is sometimes considered to be the correct name of this sp.
