Oxalis lactea Hook.
O. magellanica auct. non Forst. f. in Comm. Soc. Gött. 9, 1789, 33.
O. cataractae A. Cunn. in Ann. nat. Hist. 3, 1839, 315.
?O. novae-zelandiae Gand. in Bull. Soc. bot. France 59, 1913, 706.
Type locality: Tasmania. Also in Australia.
Plant with far-creeping branching rhizomes, emitting at frequent intervals tufts of radical lvs, forming depressed patches up to 20 cm. or more diam. Lvs trifoliolate, on almost filiform glabrate to pilose petioles up to ± 4 cm. long. Lflts obcordate with narrow sinus, cuneately or abruptly narrowed to base, glab. or nearly so, dark green above, ± glaucous below, sts purple-margined, 5-8 mm. diam. Stipules persistent, broad, scarious, ± 4 mm. long. Peduncles very slender to filiform, up to 4 cm. long, glabrate to clad in long ascending hairs; bracteoles linear. Fls solitary, 8-12-(20) mm. diam.; sepals ovate-oblong, obtuse, ± 5 mm. long, pilose to glabrate; petals obovate, emarginate, white, sts ciliate, ± 12 mm. long. Capsule globose c. 4-5 mm. diam., seeds pale.
DIST.: N., S. Lowland to subalpine damp places; streamsides, grassland, herbfield, fellfield from lat. 35° southwards.
FL.- FT. 10-3.
The N.Z. representatives are somewhat polymorphic as regards hairiness, lf and fl. size. Skottsberg (Plant World 18, 1915, 135) states that O. magellanica Forst. f. differs in being not so distinctly obcordate, peduncle not > 1 cm. long, fls not > 5 mm. across. Certain specimens from Chile in K show an approach to O. lactea.
