Oxalis polyphylla
Jacq.
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(c) Carina Lochner, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Carina Lochner
(c) Carina Lochner, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Carina Lochner
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(c) Marge, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Marge
(c) Marge, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Marge
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(c) lennartn, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by lennartn
(c) lennartn, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by lennartn
What to Eat
Edible parts: Flower stalks, Bulbs, Root
The bulbs, roots, and flower stalks are edible.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant. It grows between 100-300 m above sea level in South Africa.
Africa, South Africa*, Southern Africa,
Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe
How to Identify
A herb. It grows 20 cm tall. It has a bulb. The leaves are at the top and have 3 leaflets. The flowers are red or white with a yellow tube.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Oxalis polyphylla, the finger sorrel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Oxalidaceae. It is native to the southern Cape Provinces of South Africa. A geophyte with a bulb that is often gummy, it can reach 20 cm (8 in) in height, and is found growing both on rocky outcrops and in flat areas.
Names & Synonyms
Oxalis amoena Jacq.Oxalis filifolia Jacq.
References (3)
- De Vynk, J. C., et al, 2016, Indigenous edible plant use by contemporary Khoe-San descendants of South Africa's Cape South Coast. South African Journal of Botany. 102 (2016) 60-69
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 84
- Welcome, A. K. & Van Wyk, B.-E., 2019, An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 122 (2019) 136–179
