Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Oxalis rubens
Common name
Dune wood-sorrel
Family
Oxalidaceae
Where found
Coastal. On stabilised sand-dunes, in Banksia integrifolia woodland. Islands, beaches and coastal sand dunes. Sandy stream banks.
Notes
Perennial herb to 0.35 m high, sometimes prostrate. Stems dull red-brown, hairless or sparsely hairy, the hairs mostly pointing up (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Often roots at the nodes. Roots fibrous and branched, or occasionally with a slender taproot. Bulbs and bulbils absent. Leaves alternating up the stems, sometimes almost opposite each other or whorled, each with three bilobed, often angular, leaflets 0.2–0.9 cm long, 2–15 mm wide, purplish green to bluish and almost glaucous, more or less hairless above, sparsely hairy below, margins fringed, the lobe tips very blunt, 1.5–7 mm apart. Stipules mostly conspicuous, to about 3 mm long; membranous, margins fringed, tips squared off or tapering abruptly to the leaf stalk. Flowers with 5 yellow petals each 7–10 mm long. Flowers in clusters of 1-2 flowers. Flowers throughout the year. Seed cases long and cylindrical, 13–24 mm long, 3–4 mm in diameter, the outer surface usually densely hairy with hairs pointing down, occasionally also with longer spreading hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see).
Rare Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Oxalis~rubens (accessed 29 January, 2021)
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