One Man's Pernicious Weed is another's Oxalis Boweii
Mary Sue Ittner (Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:29:47 PST)

Dear David,

I wonder if the weed you are describing could be Oxalis purpurea. Diana
Chapman once said you could make a lawn out of it. It's the one that in
Northern California can spread much more than you'd like (besides Oxalis
pes-caprae which is yellow and seems to appear out of nowhere.) I think
people purposely plant Oxalis purpurea since it is long blooming , comes in
many different colors (white, pink, rose, salmon, yellow, violet, cream)
and the leaves are attractive if you like shamrock leaves . Oxalis bowiei
(note the correct spelling) which is an Eastern Cape species in my
experience produces very large bulbs, is tall and fall blooming. Oxalis
purpurea has dark gummy bulbs of many sizes and once planted in
Mediterranean climates in the ground is difficult to eradicate. I assume as
with many Oxalis species that some forms are more invasive than others. The
one called 'Grand Duchess' is often for sale. In my garden in Stockton,
California it grew in clay soil with very little to no supplemental water
and bloomed from October through April, disappeared in the summer and then
reappeared in fall. In spite of its invasive qualities, it was very pretty.
On the coast in my garden with a lot of trees and not as much sun, it
doesn't bloom nearly as well, but still spreads dramatically.

Hopefully one day we'll get pictures of bulbs on the Oxalis pages of the
wiki as they are often very helpful in identification. If you are going to
give it away, it would be nice for people to know for sure what it is they
are getting.

Mary Sue