''Oxalis barrelieri'', the Barrelier's woodsorrel,
or lavender sorrel, also commonly called in French ''trèfle, oseille-marron, or oseille-savane'', is a plant from the genus ''
Oxalis
''Oxalis'' ( (British English) or (American English)) is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family, Oxalidaceae, comprising over 550 species. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species ...
''.
Description
The plant grows to a height of 20–150 cm and has pink flowers with a greenish or yellow base (Smith, 1985; pp. 624–625). Leaflets on the stems generally have three leaves attached to the center (Smith, 1985; pp. 624–625).
Distribution
It is native to the
West Indies
The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
, as well as
Central and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
.
[Smith, Albert C. 1985. ''Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji''. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 3. 758 pp.] It was introduced into parts of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
,
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.
It is considered a weed in the Caroline and Mariana Islands and in Samoa.
References
*
barrelieri
{{Oxalidales-stub