Oxalis perennans Haw.
woody-root oxalis
Bushy perennial herb, with very stout primary root 3-7 mm wide towards apex. Stems to c. 20 cm long, numerous, slender, mostly erect and suberect, the outer prostrate, glabrate to densely clothed in ± antrorse hairs. Lvs 3-foliolate. Petioles to 5 cm long, glabrate to densely clothed in antrorse hairs; stipules c. 1.5 mm long, nearly completely adnate to petiole, ciliate. Lamina of leaflets equal, subsessile, 3-14 × 1-4 mm, deeply lobed with sinus c. ⅔ length, sometimes purplish, usually ± fishtail-shaped, glabrate or glabrous above, glabrate or with appressed hairs below, ciliate; calli 0. Fls 1-3; peduncles 2-8 cm long, glabrate or with antrorse hairs; pedicels 0.5-1.5 cm long, both much longer at fruiting, glabrate or with antrorse hairs. Bracts 1-2 mm long, linear-subulate, hairy, situated at base of pedicels; calli 0. Sepals 3-4 mm long, ovate-elliptic or elliptic-oblong, with appressed, antrorse hairs; calli 0. Petals > 6 mm long, ± obovate, yellow, glabrous. Stamens at 2 levels, glabrous; filaments united in lower 1/2, those of longer whorl c. 3 mm long. Styles > longer stamens, densely hairy. Capsule 10-20 mm long excluding styles, narrow-cylindric, often falcate but otherwise straight, ± densely clothed in short retrorse hairs. Seeds c. 1.5 mm long, oblong-ellipsoid; transverse ridges (8)-10-11, obtuse; grooves rather shallow.
N.: Wellington; S.: Nelson, Christchurch (Port Hills).
Australia 1976
Apparently rare and local, coastal cliffs, reclamation areas, grassland.
FL Jan-Apr.
This newly recognised naturalised sp. in sect. Corniculatae is most likely to be a fairly recent introduction to N.Z. since it has only been collected in very modified habitats in and near settled areas. It is closely related to O. rubens. Under O. perennans Lourteig (op. cit.) included a number of N.Z. specimens which are better referred to O. rubens, as judged from her illustrations and descriptions. However, some N.Z. material of O. perennans was correctly determined by her. O. perennans around the Port of Nelson is readily identifiable by its dense bushy habit, thick taproot, the narrow, almost oblong, widely divergent leaflet lobes, and the slender and often curved capsules. Although the common coastal O. rubens shows considerable variation it never has this combination of characters. J. Thompson (pers. comm.) has pointed out that the N.Z. plants are more like those of coastal Australia than more typical inland forms. This sp. was first recorded in N.Z. as O. preissiana.
