My garden is full of what looks to me like Yellow Sorrel (Oxalis
corniculata) - by looking in books and the Internet. e.g.
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...orniculata.htm

But all descriptions I have read say this plant has creeping roots (like
creeping buttercup) whereas mine all have a long, thin tap-root. The stems
spread quite far and flat against the ground. I don't know about the
flowers as I never let them grow that far.

Can anyone clarify this and give me a name?

Robert

In article , Robert
writes
My garden is full of what looks to me like Yellow Sorrel (Oxalis
corniculata) - by looking in books and the Internet. e.g.
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...orniculata.htm

But all descriptions I have read say this plant has creeping roots (like
creeping buttercup) whereas mine all have a long, thin tap-root. The stems
spread quite far and flat against the ground. I don't know about the
flowers as I never let them grow that far.

Creeping buttercup doesn't have creeping roots. It spreads by runners
(stems) which root at intervals, in the same way as strawberries do.
Oxalis is the same.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Thank Kay, that was a terminology mistake!
But "my" oxalis do not have runners, just these deep single roots (by
comparison strawberries are definitely un-deep).
Any ideas what it might be?
Rob

"Kay" wrote in message
...
In article , Robert
writes
My garden is full of what looks to me like Yellow Sorrel (Oxalis
corniculata) - by looking in books and the Internet. e.g.
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...orniculata.htm

But all descriptions I have read say this plant has creeping roots (like
creeping buttercup) whereas mine all have a long, thin tap-root. The
stems
spread quite far and flat against the ground. I don't know about the
flowers as I never let them grow that far.

Creeping buttercup doesn't have creeping roots. It spreads by runners
(stems) which root at intervals, in the same way as strawberries do.
Oxalis is the same.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In article , Robert
writes
Thank Kay, that was a terminology mistake!
But "my" oxalis do not have runners, just these deep single roots (by
comparison strawberries are definitely un-deep).
Any ideas what it might be?

I think there are some oxalis that don't run. But really you'll need to
wait for flowers to get a firm identification, unless you can post a
picture of yours to a website somewhere and post the url here.

How long have you had it? If only a year, then it may not yet have got
into the spreading phase, and it does have quite deep tap roots - about
3 to 4 inches on a plant not much more than two inches high (unlike, as
you say, strawberries, which have a cluster of outward spreading roots).
I think they do spread along the ground for quite a time before actually
rooting, ie it might be a year, whereas strawberries root the same
season.

btw, the convention on this group is to bottom post. Top posting when
most people bottom post messes up the order of the posts.

Rob

"Kay" wrote in message
...
In article , Robert
writes
My garden is full of what looks to me like Yellow Sorrel (Oxalis
corniculata) - by looking in books and the Internet. e.g.
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...orniculata.htm

But all descriptions I have read say this plant has creeping roots (like
creeping buttercup) whereas mine all have a long, thin tap-root. The
stems
spread quite far and flat against the ground. I don't know about the
flowers as I never let them grow that far.

Creeping buttercup doesn't have creeping roots. It spreads by runners
(stems) which root at intervals, in the same way as strawberries do.
Oxalis is the same.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"




--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"