Oxalis for BX

pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:44:18 PDT
From: "Dell Sherk" <ds429@comcast.net>
Date: September 27, 2009 9:48:52 AM PDT (CA)
To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: FW: Oxalis for BX



Here are amended comments from Ron Vanderhoff about his oxalis that  
are on
their way to you from BX 218:

From: Ron Vanderhoff [mailto:rvanderhoff@sbcglobal.net]

I had two description/species clarifications. Perhaps it's too late to  
do
anything but here they are. Maybe you can forward this email to anyone  
who
received these two species if it's not too much trouble.

Oxalis anomala was certainly mislabelled. I received it from a Dutch  
broker
under this name, but had since realized that it was mislabelled, since  
O.
anomala is pink with different foliage, different habit, etc. I  
realize now
that I never changed my accession record and now I've passed along more
misinformation. The genus Oxalis is already a taxonomic mess and I just
contributed a bit more to the mess. I believe this plant may be Oxalis
ambigua instead. I seems to be very similar in more respects,  
including the
storage organ, but with somewhat smaller flowers and shorter internodes.

As for the plant labelled O. massonorum, this is quite a mystery. I  
received
it several years ago from Jim Holmes of South Africa, who was once  
regarded
as quite an Oxalis authority. I and others bought this under this  
name, but
with a picture and discription identical to a very similar sounding  
species
- O. massoniana (orange with a yellow throat). All of us who bought it
apparently ended up with quite a different plant - white flowers,  
somewhat
silvery-grey, linear, hairy foliage, etc. Actually, the foliage is mat
green, but the hairs are white, giving the plant a frosted appearance.  
In
the meantime, Jim has withdrawn a bit from from the Oxalis scene and the
bulb remains a mystery, but he did recently email me with this brief
message: "I have as yet not been able to I.D. that Oxalis, it came  
from the
Sutherland area, ( as I remember ) there are a couple of people in the  
area
that may be able to help, but I will need to track them down. Sorry I  
can
not give you any more info at this stage.". Christiaan van Schalkwyk  
hasn't
identified it either. I'm starting to spread a few around with the  
hope of
someone being able to apply a name or at least a species affinity to it.
Whatever its true name is, it is a wonderful Oxalis. Very low and a very
heavy bloomer. I attached a couple of images.

For now, the name Oxalis massonorum doesn't seem to have any taxonomic
basis.

Thanks Dell.

Ron Vanderhoff

rvanderhoff@sbcglobal.net

California




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