Hello, I thank you all in advance for any assistance...this is my first post to this forum. I received a potted plant from my wife's colleague and family several years ago. This plant was removed from the backyard and placed in a pot when they moved from California to Oregon. They knew I liked this plant very much!! I have had no success identifying and locating more of these plants in the San Francisco Bay Area? It appears to be some form of "three leaf clover"? The leaves are always a reddish veriegated color...never green. In the evening, the leaves close. Photos have been attached. Sincere thanks.....Rick
Hi Rick: I believe your plant may be a Purple Leaf Shamrock - Oxalis regnellii 'triangularis'. http://www.denverplants.com/Flower/html/oxali_rtr.htm Jim
Thank you Jim!! Jim, Thank you so much for the plant identification. The photo at the DenverPlants.com website is a clone of my plant. Common name: "Purple Leaf Shamrock" Latin name: Oxalis regnellii var. triangularis Again, many thanks for the impressively fast and accurate reply...now to purchase more of these....!!!! Sincerely, Rick
Hi, just noticed your post. I have found the same plant in my friend's house and she left it to me and was really happy to find the identification for it, it is a stunning plant!
I love it but given that other oxalis types have a tendancy to become weeds here is this possibly in the same category? I think it would make a suitable semi shade plant for my conditions BUT will it nick off if it is happy. Any one grow this outside? Liz
it's not hardy in my zone - don't know how yours compares. i have another variety that i've kept inside over the winter - it just came out of dormancy a few weeks ago and when it's warmer, i'll put it outside again for the summer.
Thanks Joclyn, I think I might be a lot milder. No snow or frosts. Probably it's biggest problem might be lack of water over summer. I will have a rummage around and see what I can find out. Can't say I have ever seen it in the flesh here so maybe it's banned. Certainly a lovely looking thing. Liz
Liz - we grow other forms of Oxalis here as a food plant - like potatoes. The food ones are fairly easy to keep in the spot you plant them, but others can behave like clovers and take over your garden. I think it depends on the cultivar and whether you're dedicated to making sure that the flowers never mature to the seed stage. If you grow the food variety (Oxalis tuberosa) it's fairly drought-tolerant; I'm not sure of the others. Ecuador grows it in the high desert biomes where potatoes won't go due to lack of water; they're also a touch hardier. Plus, when it starts to annoy you, you can pull it up and eat the tubers. If you're going to give it a shot, the variety with pink tubers tastes best (IMHO). From what I can find, most propagate by tuber, which should make them fairly easy to contain. They're widely grown in New Zealand, so they should grow where you are as well (besides already being in your neck of the woods, so to speak)
Ta Lorax, will investigate this further. The only Oxalis I am familiar with are the ones with a watery type tap root and lots of bulblets. Leave one behind it's off again. bit like the onion grass. There is a yellow variety which seems ok and the pest that has a pinky white flower and larger leaves. Liz
Well, if you build yourself a contained raised bed, out of say stone or something equally durable, there should be no problem with spread due to stray tuberettes. They just end up trapped in their own little bed.
Oxalis regnellii 'Triangularis' - purple wood sorrel (picture) has caught my eye recently in the local garden centre. I just love the overall appearance. Unfortunately it is not winter hardy here (6b)., but sold as an annual in form of bulbs. If anybody can come up with a perennial which has the same or similar colours and is hardy here, I'd love to know about it. It need not have the distinct leave shapes of purple wood sorrel, - just come close colour wise in leaf as well as in flower.
