Oxalis

When I hear the term Oxalis, I usually think of the pretty clover-like weed that I continually pull out of my vegetable beds, a type commonly called creeping woodsorrel or the showy purple shamrock Oxalis triangularis of Caleb's annual border this year. Today, the word means something different to me after seeing Carla's Oxalis collection in the warm temperate greenhouse. One pretty but very persistant weed had soured me (pun intended) on what is a large genus of pretty plants mostly from South Africa and South America, but including some North American woodland natives. I like how there are some without the characteristic clover-shaped foliage and always these beautiful dainty flowers. Seeing them today was a special treat.