Bermuda Buttercup (Edible Plants on UC Berkeley Campus)

Bermuda Buttercup

Oxalis pes-caprae

Description ³

Perennial 12—24 cm tall. Stem underground, bulbiferous. Leaflets 5—15 mm long, 10 - 30 mm broad, often mottled purplish red; margin and lower surface pilose. Petiole up to 25 cm long. Scapes 1—5, up to 17 cm long, slender. Flowers 2—12, subumbellate. Sepals 5—7 mm long, lanceolate, tip with a reddish brown callus. Petals 15 20 mm long, yellow. Filament glabrous. Fruiting rare.

Distribution ⁴

Distribution: A native of the Cape region of South Africa. Naturalised in the Mediterranean region and West Europe, North Africa, Iran, Turkey and South West Asia.

Habitat & distribution ⁵

Cultivated grounds, open habitats; low elevations. Naturalized at least in Fujian but cultivated elsewhere in S China and very likely to escape and spread vegetatively [native to South Africa].

Edible ⁶

Though this plant is normally considered a weed, the plant has a lemon-like taste that adds nicely to a salad. All of the stem, leaves and flowers are edible and have the taste though usually only the leaves and flowers are used in salad.

Sources and Credits

(c) Aleta Rodriguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/58132408@N00/290289365
(c) .Bambo., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/bambolia/374655803/
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4949992
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4949993
(c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4949998
(c) jihyunan, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

Range Map

iNat Map

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