Oxalis rubricallosa Oberl., Dreyer & Roets

Species

Angiosperms > Oxalidales > Oxalidaceae > Oxalis

Characteristics

Geophyte up to 500 mm tall with branched stems. Bulb narrow-oblong, up to 80 by 30 mm, current bulb imbricated by previous years bulb remains through the action of the contractile root, such that most of the rhizome is encased by successively older bulb remains; tunics dark brown, papery, glabrous and prominently veined, often conspicuously undulate, giving the bulbs a frilly appearance. Rhizome up to 500 mm long, glabrous, with light brown scales, for most of length thickly sheathed by old tunics. Adventitious roots glandular-pilose. Above-ground stem apple green, fleshy, glabrous, c. 2 mm diam. at the base, with 2-3 light brown papery scales on basal part, branched; branches alternate, the lower arising from leaf scales and/or leaf axils, the upper from leaf axils. Leaves petiolate, trifoliolate, oriented at acute angles to the stem; lower cauline or in abortive tufts of 2-5 at nodes and the upper apically congested into whorls of 9-17; petioles 20-80 mm long, green, glabrous, base sparsely ciliate; leaflets 3, abaxial surface sparsely ciliate when young, glabrous when mature, 6-17 by 6-16 mm, broadly obcordate, incised, green, ecallose; petiolules distinct, 0.5 mm long, reddish, wrinkled, ciliate. Peduncles 2-5(-7)-flowered, same length as petioles, green, glabrous. Bracts small, linear, with two large orange calli merging at the apex, 3 mm long. Pedicels slender, green, 5-13 mm long. Sepals 5, 1-2 by 6-8 mm, oblong, obtuse, abaxially and adaxially glabrous, with very prominent orange to red calli at the tips. Corolla 16-17 mm long, pink, (fading to white in dried specimens) with short, funnel-shaped yellow tube. Petals 5, glabrous, ecallose, claw slightly shorter than lamina. Stamens 10, in 3 whorls, 2 whorls per plant, lower whorl 2 mm long, middle 4 mm long, longest 6 mm long; filaments glabrous, toothed; anthers oval, yellow. Ovaries ovoid, 2 mm long, 5-loculed, translucent, glabrous at the base and hairy above the middle. Styles 5, separate, hairy, reciprocally herkogamous with two stamen whorls, short-whorled styles curving outwards between filaments, mid-and long-whorled styles erect; stigmas yellow, fimbriate. Fruit and seed unknown.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.5
Root system adventitious-root rhizome
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) -

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 14 - 60
Germination temperacture (C°) 12 - 20
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Oxalis rubricallosa world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77127261-1
WFO ID wfo-0001335452
COL ID 4BBFD
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Oxalis rubricallosa