PINK-SORREL

Oxalis articulata

Wood-Sorrel Family [Oxalidaceae]

month8may month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8aug month8sep month8sept

status
statusZneophyte		 flower
flower8pink		 inner
inner8yellow		 morph
morph8actino		 petals
petalsZ5		 stem
stem8round		 sex
sexZbisexual

13th May 2016, a hedgerow, Devon. Photo: © Bob Whitfield
The flowers are very much like those of Wood-Sorrel, but shocking pink on the upper surface (but sometimes only pale pink or even white). Out of the sun the 5 petals of the flowers curl up into a tube like a rolled up newspaper. When opened up they are 10-15mm across.


13th May 2016, a hedgerow, Devon. Photo: © Bob Whitfield
The flowers are on numerous long stalks from a central stem. Because it has just rained and is not sunny these specimens have not unfurled again from a long nights' sleep.


13th May 2016, a hedgerow, Devon. Photo: © Bob Whitfield
The outside of the petals are much paler. All the green parts are a dull-green rather than bright-green. If you could see within the corolla you would espy a bunch of orange-yellow stamens.


13th May 2016, a hedgerow, Devon. Photo: © Bob Whitfield
The leaves are more deeply notched than those of Wood-Sorrel. The shape of the space between the deep cuts in a leaflet is acute. Unfortunately not shown - but the rear of the leaves often possess orange spots (warts) especially near the edges.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The leaves on these specimens have withered away.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The flowers are arranged in umbels, sometimes only partly compound. Many florets are not fully open here, perhaps it is not sunny enough yet? The flower stalks from ground to the beginning of the umbel are less than 35cm long (there are several here parallel to the ground on the right hand side) whilst the stalks of the leaves (here absent - or withered to orange-brown like the half-browning leaf on the far left just below the centreline) are less than 25cm long.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The flowers are in umbels.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Open wide please. The flowers are a deep pink and the petals like ships propellers; a bit asymmetrical.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The sepals have hairs and are a loose fit around the short tubular part of the flower. The flower has deeper-red stripes on the tubular part of the petals - visible on both sides.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
There are 10 stamens, two sets of 5 - in Pink Sorrel they are set at two differing heights within the flower (the deeper ones may be without anthers?).


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
10 stamens. You can also just about make out a purple-coloured object within at about the same height as the lower stamens - a 5-pronged stigma.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Going to fruit having lost their petals several sepal cups have the 5 purple stigmas protruding from the sepal cup.


8th June 2016, near habitation, Blundelsands, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
it is possible that the topmost flower has 6 sepals.

Easily mistaken for : Pink-coloured Sorrels such as Pink-purple Sorrel (Oxalis debilis), Pale Pink-Sorrel (Oxalis latifolia) andLilac Sorrel (Oxalis incarnata), Sorrel (Oxalis) and others, all introduced plants grown and mostly in gardens.

It is a neonative, introduced and naturalised from gardens and now appearing in waste stony places, by roads, on banks, often crowded by other vegetation and on sandy sea-shores. It occurs frequently in Southern England and the Channel Islands.

  Oxalis articulata  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Oxalidaceae  

Distribution
family8Wood-Sorrel family8Oxalidaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Oxalis
Oxalis
(Wood-Sorrels)

PINK-SORREL

Oxalis articulata

Wood-Sorrel Family [Oxalidaceae]