[medit-plants] Lovely Aricle on Ozalis pes-caprae

---

Hi Horace and Nan, Sean and others on the Medit-plants list,

I was delighted to read Sean's post on Oxalis pes-caprae. I have been practicing this method of control myself for several years, after I was horrified to dig up roots in spring and witness the many bulblets forming. I have been seeing an improvement in the areas where I have pulled the plants early and often. I certainly didn't want to sift soil for bulbs, and this seems like a much wiser alternative. 

    I was also pleased to hear that a sterile strain is the most prevalent one in the Bay Area. I remember that Jake Sigg, a San Francisco professional gardener, was offering a reward for someone who could prove that the plant made seeds. I don't know that anyone ever did. I certainly have never seen seed. Has anyone taken a photo of a seed pod? I do wonder at the sudden appearance of plants where I didn't think it was possible for there to have been bulblets. 

     In my community garden, we are now fighting a kind of Oxalis that has a very short underground stem, so that single leaves arise from the ground on their long petioles. Left unmanaged, they can cover the ground with leaves. They will grow one or two leaves from a very small bulb, and will develop a tight cluster of round bulblets underground with many leaves aboveground. At least the mature bulblets are not that deep, though I have to use a trowel to remove them from all but the softest soil. I worry that they will break apart when I dig them, though at least they are a slightly more yellow shade of brown than my soil, so I can see them. My research in an effort to learn their species is inconclusive, leading to several possibilities. There seem to be several similar species with pink or white flowers, though I am reluctant to let these bloom even to pin down  the species. Last week, I found some of these plants in my home garden for the first time, so maybe they are becoming more common. Has anyone else been battling this oxalis? 

     In South Africa, where Oxali pes-caprae is native, California poppy is thought a pretty, but rather invasive, weedy, non-native plant. 

Best wishes,

Pam Peirce