''Oxalis bowiei'', Bowie's wood-sorrel,
red-flower woodsorrel,
or Cape
shamrock
A shamrock is a young sprig, used as a symbol of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of ...
, is a plant from the genus ''
Oxalis'', which is native to what was
Cape Province and
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
in
South Africa. It has also been naturalized in Australia.
It is named after
James Bowie who collected plants for the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew at the beginning of the 19th century.
Its flowering stems may be a foot or more in height and are produced continuously for a considerable length of time during summer.
References
bowiei
{{Oxalidales-stub