oxalis rubra, windowbox plant which spreads the ground like wildfire

oxalis rubra found at wikimedia.org under creative commons.

 

 

   Oxalis Rubra grows throughout the state of Alabama like wildfire. It's favorite months are Febuary through July. It grows nicely and covers the ground and makes a nice cover for flowerbeds. Sometimes it gets a little wilty during those last few winter months when there is a little bit of freeze and frost.

 

     This plant also has two other names that is common such as Red Wood-sorrel and  Windowbox Wood-Sorrel. There are other types of Oxalis growing within the state that look like the Oxalis Rubra, but not quite as much as a ground cover. They are more woody and carry a bit of a seed pod.

 

   The flowers of an Oxalis Rubra are anywhere from pink/fuschia to light pastel pink. They have five pedals and open in the morning. These flowers and their leaves will fold up in the afternoon. They are very pretty around your front steps and on your lawn.  If you have had these in your yard for years, you know they aren't going no where. They have a very good resistance to any soil almost.  They come up year after year and look like a very big blob of three leaved clovers.

 

    Like many other plants that come to the state, this one was used as an Ornamental flower like all of the others. This one is native to Brazil, Uraguay, and Argentina.