Oxalis corniculata subsp. corniculata
Common name
creeping woodsorrel, horned oxalis
Family
Oxalidaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
OXACOR
Habitat
Gardens, mostly in deeper soils and more shaded sites than var. atropurpurea.
Features
Prostrate to erect to almost semi-scrambling; lacking bulbs, has a wiry tap root; occasionally rooting at nodes, foliage and stems green, leaves glabrous or nearly so above, capsule hairs dense and touching, eglandular; seed 1.0-1.3 mm long, usually with 8-11 deep, ± acute ridges.
Similar taxa
Oxalis corniculata var. atropurpurea is included in var. corniculata by many authorities. In NZ the two are often easy to distinguish by var. atropurpurea having purple foliage and stems, a thicker tap-root, and it grows in more arid sites. O. thompsoniae (q.v.) resembles var. corniculata but its capsules have dense retrorse pubescence overtopped by long, patent, septate hairs; its seeds are smooth or nearly so rather than ribbed.
Flower colours
Yellow
Year naturalised
1944
Origin
Almost cosmopolitan
Etymology
oxalis: From the Greek word oxus meaning acid or sharp
Attribution
Fact sheet amended for NZPCN by C.C. Ogle, 12 Sept. 2014. Description adapted from Allan (1961).
References and further reading
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand Volume IV, Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons: 916.