Oxalis purpurea

Purple wood-sorrel, Purple Wood-Sorrel

Family: Oxalidaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Purple wood-sorrel is a naturalized perennial found in the Central Coast and San Francisco Bay Area in disturbed places, especially near gardens, at elevations below 160 meters. Flowering from January to February, this plant produces purple to pink or white flowers with delicate petals less than 2.5 centimeters long. Growing with a basal rosette of leaflets, the plant emerges from ovoid dark brown bulbs without a prominent stem. Its leaves feature three to four leaflets less than 4 centimeters long, sparsely hairy with distinctive dark spots and streaks when dried. Each flower emerges individually on a slender peduncle 1 to 11 centimeters long, with two small bracts positioned along the stem.

Habitat: Disturbed places, especially near gardens

Bloom period: Jan-Feb

Elevation: < 160 m

Bioregions: CCo, SnFrB

California counties: San Diego, Los Angeles, Marin, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.