Oxalis versicolor (Candycane sorrel)

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Eudicotyledons > Core Eudicots > Rosids > Eurosid I > Order: Oxalidales > Family: Oxalidaceae > Genus: Oxalis

Oxalis versicolor (Candycane sorrel) growing in low-lying, wet area in fields south of Malmesbury, July 2009, Western Cape, South Africa. [photos H.G. Robertson, Iziko ©]

White flowers with yellow centres and distinctive reddish-purple margins on the underside of the petals. When the flower if furled it appears as a column of spiraling reddish-purple and white bands reminiscent of a candycane, hence the common name. Native to flats and slopes in the southwestern region of the Western Cape.