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Oxalis incarnata L. Sp. Pl. I (1753) 433. (Jacq. Tab. 71). Salter #45
Erect, caulescent, branching, 10-30cm high, glabrous or very sparsely pubescent on the younger parts.
Bulb: ovoid or narrow-ovoid, up to 2cm long, with a short curved beak, the outer tunics minutely puberulous, palish brown : bulbils forming both on the rhizome and in the leaf axils, the latter up to 1cm long.
Rhizome: long, slender.
Stem: slender, branching from the leaf axils, the internodes 1-7 cm long.
Leaves: mostly in pseudowhorls of 4-10, the lower sometimes opposite : petioles slender, 2-6cm long, dilated below the articulation : leaflets 3, shortly petiolulate, broadly or very broadly obcordate, tapering cuneately to the base, 0.5-1.5cm long, 0.8-2cm broad, thin, often livid beneath, folding downwards at night.
Peduncles: 1-flowered, terminal or in the upper leaf axils, 3-7cm long, with 2 opposite callose bracts at an articulation above the middle.
Sepals: oblong, subacute, 4-6mm long, with several converging l ight brown calli near the apex.
Corolla: 1.2-2cm long, white or very pale lilac, with a rather broad pale greenish tube : petals obliquely subcuneate, slightly attenuate into a claw, minutely papillate at the base, rounded or somewhat truncate at the apex.
Filaments: the longer 4-6.5mm long, pubescent, with conspicuous swollen obtuse teeth.
Ovary: pubescent on the upper half, the chambers 1-ovuled : styles pubescent, with small green stigmas. The short-styled form appears to be very rare, if existent at all. Seeds endospermous.
A shade loving species.
Flowers: Aug-Sep, Jan-Apr.