OXALIS CORNICULATA

Family and Genus:- See- OXALIDACEAE

Common Names:- Yellow sorrel

Homotypic Synonyms:- Acetosella corniculata, Oxalis corniculata var. typica

Oxys corniculata, Xanthoxalis corniculata

Meaning:- Oxalis (Gr) Acid-salt, a name used by Nicander of Colophon the 2nd

century BC, Greek poet and physician, and refers to the taste of sorrel.

Corniculata (L) Having a small horn or spur-like appendage.

General description:- Creeping, pubescent perennial, but flowering soon after

germination.

Stems:-

1) Up to 50 cm, procumbent, rooting at the nodes.

Leaves:-

1) Altemate, from 5-8 mm, with a slender petiole;

a) blade, 3-foliolate, glabrous on the upper surface, pubescent on the lower

surface, margins, ciliate.

b) leaflets, obcordate, deeply notched, often tinged purple.

Flowers:-

1) Flowers usually 2 or 3 in axillary umbels.

2) Sepals, 5, 3-5 mm, lanceolate, very hairy, bordered in red, blunt at the top,

persistent after flowering.

3) Petals, 5, 6-8 mm, yellow, with a short claw and obovate limb. Fruiting pedicels

deflexed.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 10-12 x 3-4 mm, cylindrical, pubescent, on an inverted stem.

Key features:-

1) Aerial stem, present.

2) Stem, rooting at nodes.

3) Leaves, alternate, from 5-8 mm, with a slender petiole.

4) Leaflets, 5-18 x 8-23 mm.

5) Capsule, 10-25 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Gravelly beaches, lawns, roadsides and gardens, usually in damp places.

0-600 m.

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece, probably under-represented in the

records. A almost cosmopolitan weed. Limited distribution on Crete, mainly around

coastal areas.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to July, sometime later in wet habitats.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton