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Information about Oxalis Acetosella

Common wood sorrel

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class:Magnoliopsida
Order:Oxalidales
Family:Oxalidaceae
Genus:Oxalis
Species:O. acetosella
Binomial name
Oxalis acetosella
L.


Enlarge picture
Oxalis acetosella, 1885 flora: "Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz"


Common wood sorrel is a plant from the genus Oxalis, common in most of Europe and parts of Asia. It flowers for a few months during the spring, with small white flowers with pink streaks. Red or violet flowers also occur rarely. The binomial name is Oxalis acetosella, because of its sour taste.

The leaflets are made up by three heart-shaped leaves, folded through the middle. The stalk is red/brown, and during the night or when it rains both flowers and leaves contract.

Historically, people have extracted calcium oxalate, or "sal acetosella" from the plant, through boiling. It is slightly toxic, as oxalic acid is known to interfere with food digestion.

Another common wood sorrel is Oxalis montana, a North American species found from New England and Nova Scotia to Wisconsin and Manitoba. It is similar to the species described above, but the petals are noticeably notched.

The common wood sorrel is sometimes referred to as a shamrock (due to its three-leaf clover-like motif) and given as a gift on St. Patrick's Day.

References

External links

Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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Magnoliophyta

Classes

Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Liliopsida - Monocots

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms comprise the two extant groups of seed plants.
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Magnoliopsida

Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class of flowering plants. By definition the class will include the family Magnoliaceae, but its can otherwise vary, being more inclusive or less inclusive depending upon the classification system being
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Oxalidales

Families

See text.

The Oxalidales are an order of flowering plants, included within the rosid subgroup of dicotyledons. The following families are typically placed here:
  • Family Oxalidaceae (wood sorrel family)

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Oxalidaceae
R.Br.

Genera

Averrhoa
Biophytum
Eichleria
Oxalis

The Oxalidaceae, or wood sorrel family, is a small family of eight genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs and small trees, with the great
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Oxalis

Species

See text.

Oxalis is the largest genus in the wood sorrel family Oxalidaceae. Of the approximately 900 known species in the Oxalidaceae, 800 belong to Oxalis.
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné)

Carl von Linné, Alexander Roslin, 1775. Currently owned by and hanging at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
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Oxalis

Species

See text.

Oxalis is the largest genus in the wood sorrel family Oxalidaceae. Of the approximately 900 known species in the Oxalidaceae, 800 belong to Oxalis.
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Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea,
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Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population.
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Seasons

Temperate
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Tropical
Dry
season Cool
Hot
Wet season

Spring
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat (laminar) and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast (chlorenchyma tissue, a type of parenchyma) to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate
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Calcium oxalate is a chemical compound that forms needle-shaped crystals. Large quantities are found in the poisonous plant dumb cane. It is also found in rhubarb leaves, various species of Oxalis, and agaves, and (in lower amounts) in spinach.
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Toxicity is the degree to which something is able to produce illness or damage to an exposed organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as a human or a bacterium or a plant, or to a substructure, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ (organotoxicity
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Oxalic acid is the chemical compound with the formula H2C2O4. This dicarboxylic acid is better described with the formula HO2CCO2H.
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Digestion is the process of metabolism whereby a biological entity processes a substance in order to chemically and mechanically convert the substance for the body to use.

Overview

Digestion occurs at the multicellular, cellular, and sub-cellular levels, usually in animals.
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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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New England

Political history
Chartering as Plymouth Council for New England 1620
Formation as United Colonies of New England 1643
Formation as Dominion of New England 1686
Admission to U.S.
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Nova Scotia
Nouvelle-Écosse, Alba Nuadh

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit   (Latin)
"One defends and the other conquers"
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State of Wisconsin

Flag of Wisconsin Seal of Wisconsin
Nickname(s): Badger State, America's Dairyland
Motto(s): Forward

Official language(s) None

Capital Madison
Largest city
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Manitoba


Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Latin: Glorious and free)

Capital Winnipeg
Largest city Winnipeg
Official languages English
Government
- Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard
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shamrock, an unofficial symbol of Ireland, is a three-leafed old white clover, sometimes (rarely nowadays) Trifolium repens (white clover, known in Irish as seamair bhán) but more usually today Trifolium dubium (lesser clover, Irish: seamair bhuí
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Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá ’le Pádraig or Lá Fhéile Pádraig), colloquially St. Paddy's Day or Paddy's Day, is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick (circa
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Nellie Blanchan De Graff (October 23, 1865 - 21 February, 1918) was a United States scientific historian and nature writer who wrote books on gardening and birds using the penname Neltje Blanchan.
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