Oxalis corniculata
Ecology
A scrambling annual or short-lived perennial herb which is often a pernicious weed of cultivated land, disturbed areas and paths. It is self-compatible and the seeds are explosively ejected up to two metres from the capsules. Its brittle stems readily root at the nodes. Lowland.
Status
Trends
O. corniculata was cultivated in Britain by 1656 and was first recorded in the wild in 1770, but the main spread has been in the 20th century and this has continued since the 1962 Atlas. It has consolidated its range in the south, and is now more widely recorded in N. Britain and Ireland.
World Distribution
Native range unknown; now found in warm temperate and tropical regions throughout the world.
Broad Habitats
Light (Ellenberg): 7
Moisture (Ellenberg): 4
Reaction (Ellenberg): 6
Nitrogen (Ellenberg): 5
Salt Tolerance (Ellenberg): 0
January Mean Temperature (Celsius): 3.9
July Mean Temperature (Celsius): 15.8
Annual Precipitation (mm): 843
Height (cm): 15
Perennation - primary
Perennation - secondary
Life Form - primary
Life Form - secondary
Woodiness
Clonality - primary
Count of 10km squares in Great Britain: 998
Count of 10km squares in Ireland: 32
Count of 10km squares in the Channel Isles: 11
Atlas Change Index: 1.62
Weighted Changed Factor: 71
Weighted Change Factor Confidence (90%)
JNCC Designations
Atlas text references
Atlas (95c)
.
1985. Biology of Canadian weeds. 71. Oxalis stricta L., O. corniculata L., O. dillenii Jacq. ssp. dillenii and O. dillenii Jacq. ssp. filipes (Small) Eiten. Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 65:691-709.
.
1986. Atlas of north European vascular plants north of the Tropic of Cancer. 3 vols.
.
1978. Vergleichende Chorologie der zentraleuropäischen Flora. Volume 2. 2 vols.
.
1998. Plant crib 1998.
Watson (1997)
.
1958. Oxalis in the British Isles. Watsonia. 4:51-69.
Comment on Life Form