Oxalis articulata Savigny

Raab-Straube, Eckhard von & Raus, Thomas, 2024, Euro + Med-Checklist Notulae, 17, Willdenowia 54 (1), pp. 5-45 : 28-29

Oxalis articulata Savigny

(≡ Acetosella articulata (Savigny) Kuntze ; = O. rubra A. St.-Hil. ≡ O. articulata subsp. rubra (A. St.-Hil.) Lourteig )

– Fig. 15.

A Cm: Crimea: Vicinity of Yalta, Nikita village, 44°30'56"N, 34°14'14"E, 250 m, ruderal habitat on roadside, 7 Jun 2023, Ryff (YALT + photo).

– Oxalis articulata is a tuberous geophyte. Its native range is SE South America. This species is widely in cultivation as an ornamental, food and medicine plant in all continents and often escapes ( Randall 2017). Oxalis articulata is listed as an alien species for many European countries (Henning & Raab-Straube 2016+b; POWO 2023). There are no indications in the scientific literature for E Europe, but a single find is known in N Ukraine (GBIF 2023). The species was recently reported as alien in Bulgaria ( Petrova & Vladimirov 2019), a neighbouring region with a similar climate to the Crimean Peninsula. In recent years O. articulata has been widely cultivated in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden and other parks, in urban landscaping and private gardens of S Crimea, where it is suggested to have escaped from cultivation ( Ryff 2021). In 2023, a small population of c. 30 individuals was found in the settlement of Nikita in a ruderal habitat, associated with Hordeum murinum subsp. leporinum (Link) Arcang., Humulus lupulus L., Lepidium draba L. and Sonchus oleraceus L. Oxalis articulata has been recorded as a casual alien only in this single locality so far and does not yet show a tendency to spread, in contrast to the recently identified invasive bulb-bearing Oxalis latifolia Kunth ( Ryff 2021), which is actually expanding its range in Crimea.

L. E. Ryff

Figures

Fig. 15. Oxalis articulata, flowering plants. – Crimea, Nikita, 7 Jun 2023, photograph by L. E. Ryff.