Oxalis chnoodes
Common name
oxalis
Family
Oxalidaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
So far only known from urban habitats (streetsides, cracked pavement, clogged gutters and drains, gardens and in plant nurseries as a contaminant of potted plants). Known from Auckland, Waiheke Island and Wanganui City.
Detailed description
Perennial herb lacking bulbils and taproot. Stems numerous, basally woody, creeping or decumbent up to 0.8 m long, not rooting at nodes; emergent stems densely invested in silky-white, spreading ± retrorse hairs; hairs shedding with stem maturation. Leaves cauline, fasciculate, 3-foliolate; leaflets subsessile, obovate-cuneate, 4-16 × 4-18 mm, bilobed, pale green, glaucescent, sparsely to densely pubescent above, more densely hairy below, margins ciliate, sinus up to 1/5 leaflet length, lobes oblong to obovate, apices rounded, 2-12 mm apart; petioles usually 0.50-40.0 mm long, densely covered with spreading hairs; stipules ± conspicuous or minute up to 1.5 mm long, truncate to abruptly tapering to petiole, chartaceous, densely hairy, margins densely ciliate. Inflorescences axillary, 2-4-flowered; peduncles longer than leaves, densely covered with spreading hairs; pedicels erect. Sepals elliptic 3.0-4.5 mm long, ciliate; petals 6-12 mm long, pale yellow. Capsule subglobose to ellipsoid, usually 7-9 mm long, retrorse-hairy with simple and septate hairs; seeds transversely ribbed.
Similar taxa
From Oxalis corniculata, O. chnoodes is distinguished by the stout, woody taproot (usually absent in O. corniculata, or if present then fleshy), white, heavily tomentose stems, petioles, petiolules, leaf undersides and laminal margins (rather than glabrescent to hairy (but not densely so) in O. corniculata), and densely ciliate, conspicuous to minute, tapering, truncate stipules with round distal portions (rather than very large, conspicuous, bluntly truncate, sparsely hairy to glabrous in O. corniculata).
Flowering
Year round
Flower colours
Yellow
Fruiting
Year round
Year naturalised
2005
Origin
Probably Eastern Australia
Control techniques
Disposal Method
As for other Oxalis
Etymology
oxalis: From the Greek word oxus meaning acid or sharp
Reason For Introduction
Probably accidental
Life Cycle Comments
Long-lived perennial herb
Reproduction
By seed
Seed
Copiously produced, possibly long-lived, plants soon form a large seed bank
Dispersal
In garden waste and rubbish, andby water moving seed along gutters and in drains
Tolerances
Cold and drought tolerant