Oxalis incarnata L.
lilac oxalis
Perennial, almost glabrous herb with thick fleshy contractile root; main bulb c. 2 cm long, subterranean; tunic brown, with scale nerves inconspicuous; secondary aerial bulbs or bulbils small, common in branch axils. Stems spreading to sub-erect, glabrous, with many flexuous, slender branches. Lvs 3-foliolate, glabrous. Petiole 2-7-(12) cm long; stipules forming a narrow to broad wing. Lamina of leaflets subequal, subsessile, 4-16 × 5-22 mm, mostly broadly obcordate, with ± divergent lobes, finely reticulate beneath, with a submarginal irregular row of orange calli; base ± narrow-cuneate, often slightly hairy. Fls solitary; peduncles 2.5-12 cm long, filiform. Bracts c. 1/2 way along pedicel, 2-2.8 mm long, linear-subulate; calli prominent. Sepals 4.5-5.5 mm long, ovate-oblong, often slightly hairy; calli 2, apical, prominent, orange. Petals 1.7-2.2 cm long, pale mauve, sometimes becoming almost white, glabrous; limb broad-obovate. Stamens in 2 whorls; filaments hairy, dilated towards base, < 4 mm long. Styles much > longer whorl of stamens, hairy except near apex. Capsule not seen.
N.: especially common in coastal towns and cities; S.: from Marlborough to Southland, but never more than locally common south of Marlborough, occasional on the West Coast; St.: Halfmoon Bay.
South Africa 1944
Waste places and gardens, especially in shady disturbed sites, on banks, beneath hedges, windbreaks, and forest margins.
FL Jan-Dec.
Salter, T. M., The Genus Oxalis in South Africa: A Taxonomic Revision (1944), stated that all or nearly all of the plants in South Africa have long styles and that the existence of short-styled plants is doubtful. N.Z. plants all seem to be long-styled. The aerial bulbils are mainly produced in late spring and early summer, and O. incarnata is the only sp. in N.Z. to have them.
