Oxalis tomentosa
Mary Sue Ittner (Wed, 26 Nov 2003 08:12:13 PST)

Dear Robin, Andrew, and David,

Does anyone know the identity of B. Bayer who wrote the Oxalis descriptions
in Cape Plants? I don't have the name of the person who was doing the
research on Oxalis in South Africa so I am curious about the source of the
information in this book. Sometimes people use their own information and
other times they use information from other books. It sounds like the
description in Cape Plants is really different for this species than what
Salter has written. And the picture from Andrew was from the Missouri
Botanical Garden which you usually trust for South Africa, but perhaps it
should only be for certain families. It makes me wonder how much I can
trust Cape Plants.

Here is what was written about Oxalis tomentosa in Cape Plants.

Under Peduncle 1 flowered, leaves usually 4 or more foliolate (a
contradiction already)

"tomentosa L.f. Vingersuring Densely silky hairy acaulescent geophyte.
Leaves trifoliolate, silky hairy, leaflets 10-20 oblong-cuneate. Flowers
white with yellow tube. Apr.-June. Grassy flats and slopes, 75-150 m, NW,
SW (Clanwilliam to Cape Peninsula)."

I have found a picture in the West Coast field guide so will use the
information from it to change the wiki. Thanks all.

Mary Sue