Oxalis articulata Savigny

Windowbox Wood Sorrel; Red Oxalis

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Windowbox Wood Sorrel is an introduced perennial herb in the Wood-Sorrel family (Oxalidaceae). It can be found throughout most of Alabama. Windowbox Wood Sorrel occurs in lawns, on vacant lots, in urban woodlands, and on roadsides. It is an acaulous perennial forming large clumps from rhizomes. The rhizomes are thick, woody, and irregularly segmented. Stolons and bulbs are absent. Leaves are long petiolate, with three heart-shaped leaflets. The leaves are pubescent and ciliate along the margins. Distinct dots of oxalate deposits are visible, especially towards the margins of the leaflets. Flowers are produced in cymes. Each cyme has 3-12 pink, rose, or white flowers. The flowers have 5 green sepals, 5 petals, and 10 stamens. Five on the stamens are long and 5 are short. The sepals have two orange bumps near their apex. The fruit is a capsule. Windowbox Wood Sorrel is a common old-fashioned plant often found around older homes. It can be used as an indoor potted plant or in a low border. Flowers and leaves fold closed at night and on rainy days. It prefers a moist, organic rich soil in full to partial sun. Large clumps can be dug and separated most any time of the year. Plants may go dormant and die down during periods of drought.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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