YELLOW WOOD-SORREL
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Oxalis stricta  L.
Riley County, Kansas
Usually perennial, sometimes annual
Height: 8-20 inches
Family: Oxalicaceae - Oxalis Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July, August, September,October
Stems: Prostrate to erect, usually unbranched or with few branches, with spreading, partitioned hairs and appressed, non-partitioned hairs.
Leaves: Basal and cauline, alternate; stipules usually absent, sometimes present and small; petiole with spreading, partitioned hairs and appressed, non-partitioned hairs; blades palmately 3-foliolate; leaflets obcordate, 1/3 to 1 inch long, 3/5 to 1 1/5 inch wide, margins entire.
Inflorescences: Cymes, (3-)5-7(-15)-flowered; peduncles 1 to 4 inches long. Pedicels spreading to ascending in fruit.
Flowers: Sepals 5, persistent in fruit, lanceolate or oblong, 1/8 to 1/6 inch, glabrous with few appressed, non-partitioned hairs proximally, tips green; petals 5, yellow, 1/4 to 2/5 inch, slightly connate at bases; stamens 10, 5 short alternating with 5 long; styles 5; stigmas 5.
Fruits: Capsules, erect or spreading, columnar, 1/3 to 3/5 inch, nearly bald or sparsely shaggy with partitioned hairs, apex abruptly tapered; seeds brown, transversely ridged, ridges brown, rarely white.
Habitat: Open woods, flood plains, stream banks, prairie ravines, pastures, lawns, gardens, and waste places.
Distribution: East 2/3 of Kansas
Origin: Native
Uses: The Iroquois took an infusion of the plant for fever, cramps, and nausea and the Kiowa chewed the leaves to relieve thirst.
Comments: Oxalis, acid and with the nature of, alluding to the sour juice of plants and stricta, erect. The leaves of Oxalis stricta are larger than the leaves of Oxalis dillenii.
Yellow wood-sorrel flower
47 KB
Riley County, Kansas
Yellow wood-sorrel
49 KB
Riley County, Kansas
Yellow wood-sorrel habit
128 KB
Riley County, Kansas
Yellow wood-sorrel leaf
65 KB
Riley County, Kansas