Oxalis - Clover Family?

[ideasguy]

This one was inherited from my mother in law. It only flowers in full sun. Sun goes behind a cloud and this guy will huff and close its pretty flowers.

Its a great little performer, so would be nice to know its name.

Oxalis probably, but which one exactly?

http://www.softwarevoortuiniers.com/pics/RIMG0002.JPG

[AussieCol]

Yes...it is an Oxalis..which is in the OXALIDACEAE family known as "Wood-sorrel"
I will do a bit of research & try to get you the species name..
But if this species is not in Australia I won't have much success..will try anyway..

Regards
AussieCol

[ideasguy]

Thanks Col.
Its not at all invasive, unlike the normal Clovers, so perhaps it hasnt spread to Oz yet.

[Aylee]

I?ve only just noticed this picture of a very familiar plant.
I think it is Oxalis articulata, though I may be wrong.  It?s a weed round here!  It  grows on verges, cliffs, embankments, and spreads around the garden, especially when someone a bit thick (me, for instance) pulls it up and puts it on the compost heap.  Leave a tiny bit of the brittle rhizome and up it pops again ? and it loves to nestle right down in among the stems of a prickly shrub. 
When I was a child we called it ?Kentish Clover? (obviously wrong), and I spent ages searching in vain for the one with four leaves ? maybe I thought it was a shamrock!  Is the real shamrock an Oxalis?

[ideasguy]

Yes, Alison, you are absolutely right! It looks just like this (only more pink, but may be the photo)
http://www.map-reading.co.uk/wildflowers/HTML%20files/f0732.htm

Very positive comparison on this German site:
http://www.azorenflora.de/oxalis_articulata.html

Two positives and one negative on Daves garden:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/64355/

My good friends at the Ulster Museum (Belfast Botanical Gardens) have it listed as part of the flora of N Ireland. I can vouch for that!
But, hey! Theres no green Dot over my garden (in Dromore)
On that map, I would be located about mid way between the very bottom green spot on the East coast, and the dot to the right of the wee bit of water (Lough Neagh)

Hey, theres a ssp.rubra!!
http://www.bulbsociety.com/GALLERY_OF_THE_WORLDS_BULBS/GRAPHICS/Oxalis/Oxalis_articulataRubra/Oxalis_articulataRubra.html


As for shamrock, the real shamrock,according to this web site:
http://www.fourleafclover.com/3fact.html
(and others i have visited), has the botanical name Trifolium repens.
Now that being the case, is the four leaved clover - Quadfolium repens? 

Another mystery solved.

[Aylee]

Thanks for the references ? new websites to explore!
I must admit my original suggestion was based on the trusty ?wildflower? book.  Makes me feel quite behind the times ? but it worked didn?t it?!!!

[ideasguy]

The old books are hard to beat Alison, and I think that plant has been around in most everybodys grandads garden.

I for one am more than grateful when both good books and plants are handed down. It a great start for a gardener.
We are spoiled nowadays in the gardening world with the internet. Every time I go researching a plant I fnd at least one more knockout website.
However, very often theres an element of doubt, and I find myself going back to refer to dad's "Readers Digest - Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants and Flowers".
It still has pride of place.
I bought the new version a couple of few years ago. First thing I noticed was that it had changed how they refer to flowering period, from Month names to seasons (e.g. Mid to late summer). I have to say I prefer to read the old book and find that Lobelia cardinalis flowers in July and August.