Oxalis corniculata L., Sp. Pl. 135. 1753; Edgew. & Hook. f. in Fl. Brit. India 1: 436. 1814. O. corniculata L. var. hispida Blatt. in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 34: 898. 1931.

Herbs, perennial, procumbent; sometimes much thickened and woody; stems several, branched, puberulous to pubescent. Leaves 3-foliolate, scattered, distant or in small tufts; petioles very slender, 1 - 9 cm long, pubescent; stipules indistinct, sometimes conspicuous, up to 3 x 1 mm, rectangular; leaflets broadly elliptic-obcordate, 4 - 20 x 5 - 18 mm, glabrous to sericeous above, paler and sometimes glaucous beneath. Inflorescence cymose to pseudo-umbellate; peduncles up to 20 cm high, usually much shorter. Flowers 2 or more; pedicels up to 20 mm long. Sepals lanceolate, obtuse to rarely obliquely-retuse with narrow pale margins, 2 - 6 x 2 mm. Petals 5, oblong, 3 - 7 mm long, yellow. Stamens 10, united; long ones ca 5 mm long; short ones ca 4 mm long; anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary ellipsoid to cylindric, ca 2 x 1 mm, puberulous; stigma small, sometimes flattened and minutely bifid; ovules 5 - 11 per locule in a row. Fruits usually linear-cylindric, 9 - 20 x 2 - 4 mm; seeds 5 - 11 per locule, flattened-ovoid, ca 1 x 0.75 mm.

Fl. & Fr. March - Dec.

Distrib. India: Throughout.

Cosmopolitan.

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