Indoor plant Sour (with photo)

HomeAll flowers that start with SIndoor plant Sour (with photo)

Oxalis (Oxalis) is a genus of annual or perennial herbs of the sour family (Oxalidaceae), living mainly in the tropics and subtropics of all continents, much less often in the forests of the cold and temperate zones. Many species are grown as indoor plants, some are planted in flower beds in the open field.

  • Family: sour.
  • Homeland: South and Central America, Africa, Europe.
  • Rhizome: creeping, often in the form of a tuber or bulb.
  • Stem: thin, sometimes pubescent, often absent.
  • Leaves: petiolate, compound, palmate or trifoliate.
  • Fruit: box.
  • Reproductive capacity: seeds, tubers, bulbs.
  • Illumination: shade-tolerant.
  • Watering: plentiful in summer, moderate in winter.
  • Content temperature: for most species – 20-25 ° C in summer, 12-18 ° C in winter.
  • Flowering time: April-October depending on the species.

Oxalis flower and his photo

Representatives of the genus are compact, not higher than 8-10 cm, perennials, less often annuals with short, often creeping stems, densely covered with small alternate pinnately or palmately dissected leaves. In some species, the stems are completely absent, and the long-leaved leaves are collected in a basal rosette. All oxalis are plants with modified underground shoots that take the form of creeping, often knobby rhizomes, tubers or bulbs; in some varieties, underground organs are used for food.

Oxalis leaves are diverse in shape, they can have from three to six or more lobes, sometimes they are completely absent, being replaced by extended cuttings.

The color of the leaf plates varies depending on the species and can be pale green, red, burgundy, purple, as well as two-tone or with a complex pattern.

A characteristic feature of all oxalis is the property of the leaves, under any adverse environmental conditions, to gather in a fold running along the middle of the leaf and fall. The plant reacts in this way to the onset of night (nyktynasty), cloudy weather or excessively bright sunlight (photonasty) or mechanical irritation (seismonasty). After the disappearance of the traumatic factor, the leaves open on their own, occupying a horizontal position.

Oxalis flowers are regular, five-petal or star-shaped, single or collected in semi-umbrella inflorescences, bloom in the axils of the leaves from April to October. The color of the petals can be white, pink, yellow, in some species variegated. The oxalis flower, like the leaves, closes by night or before the onset of bad weather, and opens again after rain or with the onset of morning.

Fruits, five-celled capsules with small seeds, burst with a crack after full ripening, as a result of which the seeds are scattered in different directions for a considerable distance, up to 2 m. The surface layer of the seeds contains sugar, which is why ants are often their carriers.

Due to the high content of organic acids, the leaves have a pronounced sour taste, which is reflected in the name of the plant, both Russian and Latin.

Types of homemade sorrel and their photos

The genus of oxalis is quite numerous, includes more than 400 species, most of which live in the tropics of Central and South America, in southern Africa. In our country, six species grow in nature, three of them are considered alien.

As garden and houseplants, oxalis have been cultivated since the 17th century. Decorative forms are characterized by undemanding care and attractive appearance, they bloom beautifully, form compact, dense curtains, the color of which can be not only green, but also purple, violet, depending on the species.

Among room sours, the most common are:

Oxalis violet triangular

Oxalis triangularis (O. triangularis) is a beautiful compact plant that grows naturally in the tropics of Brazil. Its dark purple or purple trifoliate leaves with long, flexible petioles resemble butterfly wings, which is why the form has another name, “Madama Butterfly”.

In the catalogs, the species is also found under the name “purple oxalis”. It blooms with small white, pink or lilac flowers, propagated by dividing the tuberous rhizomes.

Oxalis four-leafed

Four-leaf sorrel (O. Tetraphylla) , or Deppei’s sorrel (O. Deppei), originally from Mexico, is a stemless perennial up to 35 cm high, with a rhizome in the form of a dark brown bulb and underground shoots.

From them grows a rosette of long-stalked leaves, divided into four lobes, notched at the tops, light green with a red-brown pattern in the center. It blooms from August to September with crimson-red flowers collected in an umbrella inflorescence. For the original shape and color of the leaves in English-speaking countries, the plant is called “lucky clover” or “iron cross”.

Oxalis variegated home and her photo

Oxalis variegated (O. versicolor) – a South African species with unusual flowers, in buds – red with white stripes, in the opened state – white on the inside, with a scarlet border on the outside.

Photos of domestic sours of the described species are given below:

In open ground, due to their tropical origin, most members of the genus do not hibernate; they are grown in gardens only from May to October, followed by digging up bulbs or transferring containers to a heated room for the winter.

For the summer, almost all homemade sours can be planted or taken out in pots in the garden, they are usually used to decorate borders, alpine hills, as ground cover crops, including for decorating tubs with large plants.

Of the frost-resistant species that successfully winter in the middle zone, the most often cultivated are:

Common wood sorrel

Common oxalis (O. acetosella) , widespread in the forests of the temperate zone of Europe, including our country. It is a rhizomatous stemless plant 8-10 cm high with a rosette of long-leaved green leaves resembling clover leaves in shape, and white single flowers that bloom on long peduncles in May-April.

This forest acid is distinguished by its unpretentiousness and exceptional shade tolerance, it can be successfully grown as a ground cover plant in the most shady corners of the garden, under trees and shrubs .

Oxalis ferruginous

Oxalis ferruginous (O. adenophylla) is less winter-hardy than the previous one, requires shelter, because it does not tolerate severe frosts. Forms low, up to 10 cm, dense curtains of gray-green leaves, among which rather large pinkish flowers bloom in spring.

It is used in borders and on alpine slides, it withstands partial shade well.

There are several species which, although occasionally used in ornamental gardens, are considered weedy due to their fast and difficult to control growth. Among them, the most common are:

carob oxalis

Carob sorrel (O. Corniculata) is a perennial with numerous thin stems up to 20 cm high, dark cherry trifoliate leaves and fairly inconspicuous small yellow flowers.

There is a garden form var. purpurea with dark red leaves, which is considered the most valuable. It easily propagates by seeds that are scattered over considerable distances, therefore, when planted in the garden, it almost always turns into a weed plant, appearing in the most unexpected places.

goat’s oxalis

Goat oxalis (O. pescaprae) is a South African species that requires a cross with another form to form seeds, therefore, everywhere except its homeland, it reproduces exclusively vegetatively.

On its perennial rhizome, many small onion nodules are formed, which are easily separated and carried when digging and moving the earth, as well as by various animals and birds that eat them.

In the Mediterranean and Australia, it is considered a noxious weed, although it looks quite spectacular due to large bright yellow flowers on long fleshy peduncles reaching a height of 20-40 cm. Suitable for borders and especially alpine slides, however, due to its rapid growth, it can suppress the growth of other plants.

In the photo above – oxalis flowers planted in open ground.

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