Oxalis violacea L.
       Assembled by Glenn Tillman, University of Georgia
                                        Ecology 3500
                            05/27/99

 
 

Oxalis violacea.700.jpg35 mm slide scanned with Polaroid Printscan 35 at 2700dpi; set image size to 700 dpi and converted to jpg quality 5 with Adobe Photoshop v4.0 Oxalis violacea Oxalidaceae 0.00000005041972 Kodachrome Photograph courtesy of Univ. of Georgia Herbarium. Copyright Dept. of Botany, Univ. of Georgia, Athens. All rights reserved.


Common Names:  Purple Oxalis, Violet Wood Sorrel
Class:  Dicotyledenae
Order:  Geraniales
Family:  Oxalidaceae
Genus:  Oxalis
Species:  violacea

Description:  The violet wood sorrel  is classified as a low herb with palmately compound leaves.  It has three leaves and has five petals of violet half-inch flowers during the months of April through June.  The plant is a dicot. Oxalis violacea lacks aerial leafy stems, and its leaves are all basal ( Weishaupt 1968 ).  The flowers are clustered on stalks which can be up to 8 inches long.  The plant has no true stem, as each three-lobed leaf is on a stalk.  Violet wood sorrel grows well in native grasslands, savannas and open woodlands, because dense forests would effectively block the herb from receiving the light it needs for growth.  The plant also does well in sandy soils and marsh edges (SEE  Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center).  Taxonomic characteristics include primary adventitious roots, entire leaf margin, capsular fruit, and obcordate leaflets.  Holotype species may be found in such herbariums as University of Tennesee Herbarium (SEE Univ. of Tenn.) or University of Georgia Herbarium (SEE  Univ. of GA).

Location and Distribution: Violet wood sorrel is found in 40 of the 50 states, including all states in the southeastern region of the U.S.A. and all the states in the Midwestern U.S.A.  The plant is not natively found in any of the western states except Oregon.  The plant is native to most natural communities such as upland forests, praries, savannas and successional fields .

                                                Oxalis violaceae L. Distribution
            AREA                                       STATUS                        REFERENCES
              North America                      Yes              Database
          Southeastern U.S.A 
 AL AR  FL GA KY MD NC SC TN  
                       VA WV 		                       Yes             Same as above
    Southern Appalachian
                  States 
      AL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV		                      Yes             Same as above
             Coastal Plains                     Yes, 
             Widespread		               Duncan & Kartesz, 
              1981
            Piedmont                    Yes, 
             Widespread		               Duncan & Kartesz,  
              1981
          Cumberland 
             Plateau		                       No               Duncan & Kartesz,  
              1981
         Blue Ridge 
         Mountains		                    Yes,
             Widespread 		               Duncan & Kartesz,  
              1981
                 Georgia                    Yes, 
             Widespread		               Duncan & Kartesz,  
              1981
            Ridge and Valley                     Yes, 
             Widespread		               Duncan & Kartesz,  
              1981

General Information: Oxalis violacea has a perennial lifecycle, which includes flowering months of April to May.  It is an autotrophic plant with C3 carbon dioxide fixation.  It reproduces sexually.  It may flower again in the late fall.  The plant is edible and is a high source of Vitamin C ( SEE Food). O. violaceae is a good indicator of former savannas and open woodlands because these habitats lack canopy conditions.  With densely-wooded areas, the plant is less common due to the lack of available sunlight, as wood sorrel is a low-growing herb .

References and Related Web Sites Used:
    Duncan, W.H.  & Kartesz, J.T.  1981.  Vascular Flora of Georgia:  An Annotated Checklist.  University of Georgia Press, Athens.
    Ownbey, G.B. & Morley, T.  1991.  Vascular Plants of Minnesota:  A Checklist and Atlas. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis / Oxford.
    Weishaupt, C. G.  1968. Vascular Plants of Ohio:  A Manual for Use in Field and Laboratory. W.M. C. Brown Book Company; Dubuque, Iowa.
    Yatskievych, G. & Turner, J. 1990. Catalogue of the Flora of Missouri. Missouri Botanical Garden.
    http://plants.usda.gov (Follow the links to Oxalis spp.)
    http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/deleware/ilpin/2056.co (Go to original site and follow the links)
    http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/literatr/wildflwr/species/oxalviol.htm
    http://www.central.edu/biology/botany/wild/plantsV.html
    http://www.iupui.edu/~mreiter/bcfl1985.htm
    http://www.botany.com/oxalis.html