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Oxalis crassipes 'Alba' (White Wood-Sorel) - An evergreen tuft-forming woody rhizomatous species (not from a bulb or corm) reaching to 10 inches tall and slowly spreading to about 18 inches wide with decorative trifoliate clover-like leaves. In late winter in California gardens (later in cooler climates) emerge, just above the foliage, a profusion of 1" wide pure white flowers with yellow stamens. Flowering continues strongly until early summer with lingering flowers until first frost - this white flowering form is longer blooming than the pink form.
Can grow in full coastal sun but looks better in morning sun to light shade and give regular to occasional irrigation. Hardy as a dormant plant to below 0 °F and useful to at least USDA Zone 6 and with some protection down into USDA Zone 5. For us it is evergreen until frosted back. There is a tendency to lump all Oxalis together, but this species has never become pesky in our garden and is a favorite plant here and in the southeast. It is easy to split and divide clumps if they become too big at any time of the year.
Oxalis crassipes is native to Argentina and Brazil. One of our favorite writers on bulbs is Scott Ogden who in his Garden Bulbs for the South notes about the pink form that it is "a tough thrifty native of the Argentine pampas, O. crassipes often returns to bloom in fall, persisting through the winter on sheltered sites. This is an invaluable plant for Southern gardens, a prime choice for edging beds or pathways. Its lightly felted, cloverlike leaves make handsome mounds even when not it bloom."
The name for the genus is that of Linnaeus from the Greek words 'oxus' (sometimes spelled 'oxys'or 'oxis') meaning "sour" or "acid", which he used when describing Oxalis acetosella. The specific epithet is from the Latins word 'crass' meaning "solid", "thick", "fat" or "dense", the connecting vowel 'i' and 'pes' meaning "foot", likely in reference to the woody rhizome. An interesting early name for Wood-sorrel is Lujula, which was thought to be a corruption of the word Allelujah (Hallelujah) or "praise the lord" and so named for this plant's many virtues with leaves of the Trefoil, the taste of Sorrel (a Dock or Rumex) and flowers like a Geranium. Of course as a kid we just called them all sourgrass! Most recent treatment of the this species has lumped it with Oxalis articulata as Oxalis articulata forma crassipes (or O. articulata ssp. rubra forma crassipes) but we continue to list it just as Oxalis crassipes as this is the name most commonly used. Our thanks to garden designer Dan Tyson for encouraging us to grow this great little plant that we grew from 2014 until 2019.
The information displayed on this page about Oxalis crassipes 'Alba' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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