Least Yellow-sorrel - Oxalis exilis

Alternative names
Oxalis perennans
Description

Low, creeping, sometimes mat-forming plant, with creeping thread-like stems, leaflets only 2 to 6 mm always green. Flowers solitary, yellow, usually 5 stamens with and five without anthers.

Similar Species

Oxalis corniculata

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

Smaller plant; usually single flowered inflorescences; 10 stamens, 5 with anthers, 5 without

Recording advice

Close up of flowers showing stamens

Habitat

On gravel covered drives, and near to habitation, nurseries, cultivated ground and waste places.

When to see it

July to October.

Life History

Perennial

UK Status

Scattered records from central and southern England but probably increasing.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent and increasing in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Least Yellow-sorrel
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Oxalidales
Family:
Oxalidaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
31
First record:
03/08/2008 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
14/05/2023 (Smith, Peter)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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