|
|
Oxalis gracilis Jacq. Oxal (1794) 69, t. 33. Salter #152
O. versicolor L, var. gracilis Willd.
O. miniata Jacq.
O. gracilis Jacq. var. miniata Sond.
O. teretifolia Sond.
Caulescent, erect or somewhat diffuse, the stem usually branching.
Bulb: ovoid-globose, about 3cm long : tunics rather loose, ovate or lanceolate, acute, dark brown with paler margins.
Rhizome: subligneous, often 10cm long, with amplexicaul scales.
Stem: wiry, up to 30cm long, with a smooth brown cortex, often branching from the scale or leaf-axils, pubescent towards the base, glabrous above.
Leaves: terminally congested on the stem, branches or branchlets, a few cauline on the upper part : petioles filiform, 1-3cm long, finely pubescent, widened, squamiform and ciliate below the basal articulation : leaflets 3, sessile, 1-2cm long, conduplicate or in dry situations involute, slightly falcate, minutely emarginate, glabrous above, minutely pubescent beneath, inconspicuously punctate with small calli towards the apex, the lateral widely divergent.
Peduncles: 1-flowered, often numerous, 1-2.5cm long, cano- pubescent, with 2 alternate linear bracts on the upper part.
Sepals: lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, sometimes slightly attenuate, 2.5-6.5mm long, pubescent, darkening towards the apex.
Corolla: 1.7-2.5cm long, salmon-pink or white, with a funnel- shaped yellow tube : laminae of the petals more or less obovate beneath, about twice as long as the claw.
Filaments: the shorter 3-4.5mm, the longer 4.5-7mm long, sparsely and minutely glandular-pilose, edentate.
Ovary: pubescent on the upper half, callose near the apex, the chambers 2-3 ovuled : styles pubescent below, with short pluricellular capitate hairs above.
Capsule: slender, moniliform, up to 2cm long. Seeds without endosperm.
Flowers: May - July.
Like var. purpurea this species is remarkable for its prolific flowering. Plants sometimes produce as many as 20 open flowers at one time.
O. miniata Jacq. (tab 35) with brick-red flowers, has hitherto been considered a variety of O. gracilis, but this slight colour variation is too trivial to accept as varietal. Nor can the white flowered form be considered separable as a variety although it does not grow in association with the typical form and has a rather different geographical distribution. O. teretifolia Sond named from wretched starved specimens, in which the leaflets are shrivelled and involute, not terete, is also inseparable. Two well-marked varieties, however, do occur.
Var. purpurea Salter, Journ. of S.A. Bot. VI (1940) 124.
Plant rather smaller.
Corolla: 1-1.6cm long, deep reddish-purple, with a yellow tube, much smaller than in the typical form. (Plate VII (i).)
Found 4-6 miles west of Garies.
Flowers: June - July.
Superficially similar to O. helicoids Salter, but differing in having a more or less straight (not spiral) stem and an exserted capsule.
Var. lilacea Salter l.c. 125.
Stem: 5-12cm long, unbranched, somewhat tortuous.
Corolla: pale lilac, medium sized, but smaller than in the typical form (Plate VII (ii).)
Found 7 miles west of Nieuwerust, 10 miles south of Garies, and 22 miles south of Garies.
Flowers: May - June.