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Flowers
Common Name: shamrock
Type: Bulb
Family: Oxalidaceae
Native Range: Brazil, Paraguay
Zone: 8 to 11
Height: 0.50 to 1.50 feet
Spread: 1.00 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: Seasonal bloomer
Bloom Description: Pale pink to white
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Annual, Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Leaf: Colorful
Tolerate: Rabbit, Deer
Noteworthy Characteristics
Oxalis triangularis, commonly called false shamrock, purple wood sorrel, or purple shamrock, is a cormous, more or less stemless, herbaceous perennial native to South America. Mature plants will reach 1.5' tall with a 2' spread. Compound, trifoliate leaves with long, slender petioles emerge from fleshy, stout, scaly, underground corms or rhizomes. The dark purple leaves are made up of three, triangular leaflets with a prominent center crease. The leaflets will fold down at night or if disturbed. Clusters of 2-5, pale pink to white, five-petaled, funnel-shaped blooms are held at more or less the same height as the foliage on leafless scapes in spring. Repeat blooming is likely, especially as the weather cools in fall.
Two subspecies are recognized, subsp. triangularis and subsp. papilionaceae, however the differences between them are minor and variable across their shared native range.
The genus name Oxalis comes from the Greek word oxys meaning "acid", "sour" or "sharp", in reference to the taste of the leaves.
The specific epithet tirangularis means "triangular" in reference to the shape of the leaflets.
The common names of this species refer to the color of the foliage and the superficial resemblance between this species and other trifoliate species such as shamrocks (Trifolium).
Problems
Oxalis rust can be problematic. Prune and remove diseased foliage. Deer and rabbits tend to avoid this plant.
Uses
Mass and allow to naturalize in rock gardens, mixed borders, and around the bases of trees where hardy. Can be grown as an annual or houseplant in colder climates. Container plantings.