Saturday, May 06, 2006

Weed or flower?



This is my second attempt at this post.Blogger crashed last time.I was asked about the Oxalis bulbs which i planted.In California (Alameda) the oxalis are a noxious weed.I wandered if what i planted was the same.Some internet research later and i have some answers.
The first pic is Oxalis Deppei, also called woodsorrell, four leaf clover , or iron cross.It has pink flowers and is sold near St Patricks day.
The second was the Alameda/California villain Oxalis Pes-Caprae.The Bermuda buttercup.It is invasive by its free forming bulbs and side roots like icycles.It crowds out other plants and stops them growing.
Check out this American article: http://cnps-yerbabuena.org/hab_sigg_oxalis.html

Wilkopedia have this about Oxalis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis

Its a gree word for acid because of the bitter taste of the plant.Oxalic acid was used before as a folk remedy but too much is poisonous.
What interested me is the common name is Oxalis but with 800 species thats a lot of confusion about which is a weed and which is a flower.
I will photgraph them when they start to bloom.The bulbs have already sent up the seedlings in my front window border.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the photos and the research. The Oxalis Deppei is quite pretty! But the second photo--that seemingly innocent yellow flower--haunts me in my dreams.