''Oxalis alpina'' is a herbaceous perennial plant also known by its common name alpine woodsorrel. It is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

belonging to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Oxalis ''Oxalis'' ( (American English) or (British English)) is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae, comprising over 550 species. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species d ...

.''Oxalis alpina Rose ex Knuth in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2021-01-03. ''O. alpina'' is found in North America and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

from Guatemala to the southwestern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Taxonomy

Different classifications of ''Oxalis alpina'' exist. It is a

in the genus ''

'', but some also classify it as being part of the '' Ionoxalis'' section in the genus ''Oxalis''.Oxalis alpina Rose ex Knuth in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2021-01-03. Synonyms for ''Oxalis alpina'' include ''Ionoxalis alpina'' Rose, ''Ionoxalis metcalfei'' Small, ''Ionoxalis monticola'' Small, ''Oxalis metcalfei'' (Small) Knuth., ''Oxalis bulbosa'' A. Nelson, and ''Oxalis monticola'' Small. The species was first described by

Reinhard Gustav Paul Knuth Reinhard Gustav Paul Knuth (1874–1957) was a German taxonomist, botanist and pteridologist responsible for "''Initia florae venezuelensis''" in 1928, and numerous contributions to Adolf Engler's "''Das Pflanzenreich''" on Geraniaceae, Oxali ...

and

Joseph Nelson Rose Joseph Nelson Rose (January 11, 1862 – May 4, 1928) was an American botanist. He was born in Union County, Indiana. His father died serving during the Civil War when Joseph Rose was a young boy. He later graduated from high school in Libert ...

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the ...

Etymology

The name ''Oxalis'' comes from the Greek word "oxys," meaning sharp or sour, which is in reference to its oxalic acid content that gives it a sour flavour. The specific epithet ''alpina'' means "alpine," reflecting its habitat range.

Description

''Oxalis alpina'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

herb that grows each year from an underground bulb, and can usually be found from July to September. ''Oxalis alpina'' is

tetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

. Plants are conspicuous and can have 1-7 flowers which are arranged in an

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

. Leaves are green and clover-like with three distinct heart-shaped lobes. ''Oxalis alpina'' is morphologically similar to '' Oxalis violacea'', but can be differentiated by observing the orange projections at sepal tips: ''Oxalis alpina'' has two distinct orange projections, while in ''Oxalis violacea'' the projections are fused. Flowers from ''Oxalis alpina'' are perfect and exhibit a

superior ovary In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule(s) and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the ...

, ten

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

, and one pistil composed of five carpels. Fruits from ''Oxalis alpina'' are dehiscent capsules which disperse seeds by exploding at maturation, projecting seeds into the immediate area. ''Oxalis alpina'' flowers are

heterostylous Heterostyly is a unique form of polymorphism and herkogamy in flowers. In a heterostylous species, two or three morphological types of flowers, termed "morphs", exist in the population. On each individual plant, all flowers share the same morph. ...

and exhibit either

tristyly Tristyly is a rare floral polymorphism that consists of three floral morphs that differ in regard to the length of the stamens and style within the flower. This type of floral mechanism is thought to encourage outcross pollen transfer and is usually ...

distyly Distyly is a type of heterostyly in which a plant demonstrates reciprocal herkogamy. This breeding system is characterized by two separate flower morphs, where individual plants produce flowers that either have long styles and short stamens (L-morp ...

depending on the population. Distylous populations likely evolved from tristylous ancestors, and pollen transfer can still occur between tristylous and distylous ''O. alpina'' flowers.

Range

Occurrences of ''Oxalis alpina'', have been recorded from Guatemala to the southwestern

, including the

sky island Sky islands are isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau, and has extended to similarly isolated high-elevation forests. The isolation has s ...

region of southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico. It is known to be somewhat rare in the United States, with few populations throughout New Mexico and only found in the eastern 2/3 of Arizona, as well as a few instances in

Navajo County Navajo County is in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 106,717. The county seat is Holbrook. Navajo County comprises the Show Low, Arizona Micropolitan Statistical Area. Navajo County c ...

. Different populations are known to have varying reproduction systems, with isolated climate conditions occurring since the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

facilitating these differences even between adjacent mountain ranges within Arizona.

Habitat

''Oxalis alpina'' can be found at high altitudes in temperate deciduous, pine-oak, and temperate

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All exta ...

. Populations in Arizona are recorded as being located at elevations of 5500 to 9000 feet.''Oxalis alpina'' usually grows among rocks in moist environments.

Interspecies relationships

''Oxalis alpina'' is

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

by solitary bees ( Heterosaurus bakeri and Heterosaurus neomexicanus),

dipterans Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

s and lepidoptera. In Mexico and the southern United States the bulbs of ''Oxalis alpina'' and other ''Oxalis'' species have been found to be a primary food source for

Montezuma quail The Montezuma quail (''Cyrtonyx montezumae'') is a stubby, secretive New World quail of Mexico and some nearby parts of the United States. It is also known as Mearns's quail, the harlequin quail (for the male's striking pattern), and the fool q ...

during the winter months.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15346367

alpina Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG is an automobile manufacturing company based in Buchloe, in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany that develops and sells high-performance versions of BMW cars. Alpina works closely with BMW an ...