pbs Digest, Vol 10, Issue 22
David Victor (Tue, 18 Nov 2003 10:07:30 PST)
Mary Sue wrote:
"Another supplier of Oxalis bulbs are Sheilam cactus nursery, at Robertson
(South Africa).
No mention if they export, but perhaps someone could email them and let us
know.
As it happened, I e-mailed them last night and, yes, they do export and can
supply phyto-sanitary and CITES certificates. However, they do not accept
personal cheques and the costs add up, particularly if you want things air
freighted. If you would like a copy of their list and conditions I can let
you have it.
Paul wrote:
O. perdicaria is VERY closely related to O. lobata (can be difficult to
tell apart depending whether happy ot unhappy (i.e influences size of
leaves and flowers etc).
According to Index Kewensis O. perdicaria Bert. is the same as O.
lobata. This is also noted in the Alpine Garden Society's encyclopaedia,
the entry for which was written by John Watson, probably the leading field
botanist on South American Oxalis nowadays.
My memory of the discussion was that what so many of us have here in
Australia as O. namaquana is acutally O. fabaeifolia. I think it was
worked out in that discussion that O. namaquana actually has 3 leaflets
instead of the 2 the fabaeifolia has, plus the flowers on namaquana are a
much stronger gold than the paler yellow that we in here have as that
species (which the consensus was that it was actually fabaeifolia should
look like). That's my memory of it anyway, but that doesn't mean much
given how shot to pieces by CFS / ME my memory is <grin>.
Paul, you are not quite right. According to Salter O. namaquana has 3
leaflets, with a corolla which can be yellow or (rarely) white, the yellow
funnel shaped tube often purple streaked. O. fabaefolia has 2 - 5
leaflets, with a corolla which can be yellow, pale mauve or white, rarely
with a purple eye at the throat. The leaflets of fabaefolia can be rather
broad and have "wings", whereas namaquana's leaflets tend to be narrow and
have two small brown apical calli.
Best regards,
David Victor