Oxalis melanosticta
David Victor (Sun, 16 Jul 2006 10:11:03 PDT)

Hi there everyone,

I think that I can throw some light on this subject. Around five
years ago I had a long conversation with Allan Robinson, who used to
be in the Alpine Department at RHS Wisley. Both of us were
interested in Oxalis and had some doubts over the naming of this well
known plant, which had wobbled around over the years. Mike Grant,
who was then the botanist in the Wisley Herbarium and is now the
Editor of The Plantsman, was brought into the conversation in the
hope that he could determine its correct name. I laboriously typed
typed out the description in my copy of Salter's monograph and
e-mailed it to him. He then confirmed it to be O. melanosticta Sond.

Incidentally, the flower colour can vary from bright yellow to cream
and I believe the cultivar 'Ken Aslet' to refer to the bright yellow
form that is common in cultivation in the UK, though I don't know
where it was first published.

Best regards,
David Victor