Episode 265: gold veined oxalis (Oxalis debilis 'Aureoreticulata')
Oxalis debilis ‘Aureoreticulata’ aka the gold veined oxalis. Photograph: Jane Perrone
TRANSCRIPT
I profile the beautiful gold veined oxalis (Oxalis debilis ‘Aureoreticulata’) and we hear from listener Alice in Meet the Listener.
Check out the show notes as you listen…
The correct scientific name for the gold-veined oxalis is Oxalis debilis ‘Aureoreticulata’ alhtough you will often see it stioll sold under an old name, O. corymbosa.
It is native to Central and South America but has spread to large swatches of the tropical and subtropical world as well as some warmer temperate climes. Check out its page on Plants of the World Online to see a distribution map.
The leaves are edible and taste lemony but the plant is so small there is not a huge harvest. They are high in oxalic acid so should not be eaten in huge quantities anyway.
The plant grows from small white bulbils and if you reuse houseplant substrates, it might spread around your houseplants and pop up in unexpected places.
As with other oxalis houseplant species, it has a tendency to die back when conditions are not ideal, particularly during hot summers, but it should resprout from the bulbils.
It is also a red spider mite magnet, especially in hot weather, and the best way of treating it is to remove all the leaves and let it resprout.
The yellow veins in ‘Aureoreticulata’ are thought to be caused by a begomovirus - I found a scientific paper talking about this here.
This plant makes a great ‘ground cover’ plant in the top of larger plants to cover bare soil.
Other Oxalis species worth growing as houseplants include Oxalis triangularis (episode on that here), Oxalis vulcanicola which has some nice cultivars including ‘Plum Crazy’, ‘Zinfandel’ and ‘Molten Lava’ and the now very rare Oxalis ortgiesii, the fishtail oxalis.
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Thanks to Treleaf for supporting this week’s show. Treleaf’s high quality, durable wooden trellises are made in their workshop in Atlanta Georgia, using locally sourced timber. Treleaf’s range of trellis can work with any houseplant you can imagine, including staked and wall mounted designs and modular trellises that grow with the plant.
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CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, The Road We Use To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Dizzy Spells by Josh Woodward. The ad music is Fire Tree by Axletree.