Plant: perennial herb; BULBS 1-3 cm long

Leaves: LEAVES 6-24 cm tall; leaflets 5-11, 10-72 mm long, 2-40 mm wide

INFLORESCENCE: 5-12-flowered; pedicels less than 30 mm long

Flowers: perfect, the petals clawed, connate at base; stamens 10; pistil 5-carpelled; styles 5, corollas purplish, pink, or lavender, 7-22 mm long

Fruit: FRUITS fleshy explosive capsules, ellipsoid, 3-11 mm long. SEEDS 0.8-1.2 mm long, arillate

Misc: Coniferous, oak, or mixed deciduous forests, sometimes scrubland or grassland; occasionally weedy; 1700-3200 m (5000-9500 ft); Jul-Sep

REFERENCES: Denton, Melinda. 1998 Oxalidaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. 30(2): 115.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous perennial with creeping, thick and woody rootstocks, caulescent, the sap acidic, the leaves 6-24 cm tall.

Leaves: Digitately compound, the leaflets 5-11, wedge-shaped, and apically cleft, sparsely to copiously strigose., the leaflets 10-72 mm long, 2-40 mm wide.

Flowers: Purple or pink, perfect, regular, 5-12 flowered, corollas 7-22 mm long, with 5 petals, the petals clawed, connate at the base, sepals 5, stamens 10, the filaments united at the base, unequal, with 5 longer than the others.

Fruits: Capsules dehiscent, 5-celled.

Ecology: Found scrublands, grasslands, or in mixed deciduous, coniferous, or oak forests or woodlands, from 5,000-9,500 ft (1524-2896 m); flowering July-September.

Notes: Looks sort of like a large, purple daisy (with inset yellow centers) and Lupinus-like leaves. The easiest key to this species is the 5-12 leaflets, differentiating it from the similar O. alpina, which has 3 leaflets.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Oxalis is from Greek oxys for sharp, sour, while decaphylla means ten-leaved.

Synonyms: Many, see Tropicos

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011