Rats - I was hoping to stump the botanists! Good call, Scott. Yes, it's a remontant bloom of Oxalis violacea wihout leaves. In fact, if you zoom in on the picture, you can see oxalate deposits at the tips of the sepals on unopened flowers. These can also be seen in the notch on the emarginate leaflets when they are present. I would like to know if remontant bloom on this plant is always scapose (a flowering scape without leaves).
The plants are flowering at Fred Rose Park in Hobart, Indiana, where Sandy O'Brien is doing an EXCELLENT job of restoring the savannah with prescribed burns. Two of these plants were discovered on a dry clay slope in partial sun. Photographed on 8-12-2010.
Tricky, Keith, but I've been fooled by that one before. That's Oxalis violacea.
ReplyDeleteThe flower was recognizable as Oxalis but I've never seen a bloom without foliage.
ReplyDeleteThere was lots of this species at Lake Leatherwood, right outside Eureka Springs, AR:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericinsf/4581635726/
Several years ago, while botanizing in Missouri with Justin, I stopped dead in my tracks and dropped to my knees, as I was baffled by a scapose plant with five-petaled violet flowers. I remember Justin laughing a bit as he told me it was just Oxalis violacea. I won't ever be stumped by that species again.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this. I found this one today in Maryland and was stumped! Newcomb's said Oxalis violacea had visible leaves. I searched and searched until I found this page!
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