Authors:
forming small tufted colonies to 5cm high. Leaves trifoliate, bright green, the leaflets obcordate to 7mm long, appearing in spring, dying down in summer, then emerging again in autumn with the flowers. The latter solitary, l-2cm long, bright yellow. Southern Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile, in thin grassland, scrub clearings and fields at low altitudes up to about 500m. Best in the alpine house, but surviving in sheltered sites outside unless the winter is severe. In the wild, intermixed with certain vast populations of this species, and flowering also in the southern autumn, is another oxalis with a similar basic habit. It has the same type of small bulb and a similar tuft of basal leaves, but slightly larger and greener. However, it differs strongly in the peduncles, 2-3 times the height of the foliage, and its few-flowered umbel of much larger, pale primrose-yellow corollas strongly veined red on the reverse. It comes from the coastal range of Chile at Amolana to the south of Coquimbo at 500m. Its distinctly limited numbers as well as its apparently somewhat different daily cycle of flower opening makes it extremely easy to overlook. Unless fairly recently dealt with, it may perhaps be as yet undescribed for science. Its time of flowering would make it as welcome an addition to our autumnal scene as its well known companion in the wild.
Plant Portrait: Oxalis perdicaria 'Citrino' - plant of the month Nov 2016
Joint Rock: Joint Rock Awards, Newcastle, 13 October, 2012
