# Can someone identify this plant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561 "2006-08-13T16:32:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/1 "2006-08-13T16:32:46Z")
Okay…my MIL has this growing in a container in her yard. She didn’t know what it was when she bought it, but liked how it looked. It has deep red/brown clover-shaped leaves and tiny yellow trumpet flowers sprinkled about. She bought it in a tiny 2" pot this year, and it has multiplied to about 50 times that already. When I lifted the foliage, it appears to be sprouting along the stems, as if it really wants to be a ground cover. If it IS ground cover, I want to grab some and plant it under my hedges. Any ideas?? Muchos Thankos. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/2 "2006-08-13T16:38:40Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] Okay…my MIL has this growing in a container in her yard. She didn’t know what it was when she bought it, but liked how it looked. It has deep red/brown clover-shaped leaves and tiny yellow trumpet flowers sprinkled about. She bought it in a tiny 2" pot this year, and it has multiplied to about 50 times that already. When I lifted the foliage, it appears to be sprouting along the stems, as if it really wants to be a ground cover. If it IS ground cover, I want to grab some and plant it under my hedges. Any ideas?? Muchos Thankos. [/QUOTE] Any chance you can post a picture? Also, where are you located? GT ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/3 "2006-08-13T16:39:17Z")
[Oxalis?](http://perso.orange.fr/jean-jacques.lelez/fleurs/oxalis.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/4 "2006-08-13T16:42:37Z")
There are also reddish-leaved kinds of [oxalis.](http://www.hlasek.com/oxalis_corniculata_a4328.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/5 "2006-08-13T16:50:52Z")
[QUOTE=gardentraveler] Any chance you can post a picture? Also, where are you located? GT [/QUOTE] No picture. I was hoping you guys had a source and I could say “That’s IT!” I’m in Chicago, which is zone 2 or 3, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/6 "2006-08-13T16:55:58Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] There are also reddish-leaved kinds of [oxalis.](http://www.hlasek.com/oxalis_corniculata_a4328.html) [/QUOTE] That’s my thinking. I have two types of that oxalis in my yard. One’s green-leaved and a pesky weed. The other is dark purple leaved, similar in color to the [oxalis regnellii](http://www.aogc.org/shade/000010.html) but otherwise exactly like the green-leaved type, only not as invasive or pesky. I grow it on purpose, as it’s a bit more attractive than the weedy type. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/7 "2006-08-13T16:57:38Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] [Oxalis?](http://perso.orange.fr/jean-jacques.lelez/fleurs/oxalis.htm) [/QUOTE] It looks exactly like the first picture, but with reddish/brown leaves. The second picture has the leaf color right, but the flower is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/8 "2006-08-13T16:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] That’s my thinking. I have two types of that oxalis in my yard. One’s green-leaved and a pesky weed. The other is dark purple leaved, similar in color to the [oxalis regnellii](http://www.aogc.org/shade/000010.html) but otherwise exactly like the green-leaved type, only not as invasive or pesky. I grow it on purpose, as it’s a bit more attractive than the weedy type. [/QUOTE] That’s not it. But it’s attractive! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/9 "2006-08-13T17:00:14Z")
Is Oxala a ground cover? I want something that is virtually maintenance free and a fast mover, which this stuff of my MIL’s appears to be. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/10 "2006-08-13T17:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] It looks exactly like the first picture, but with reddish/brown leaves. The second picture has the leaf color right, but the flower is wrong. [/QUOTE] Here’s another picture of [Oxalis corniculata; Creeping Wood Sorrel](http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=&enlarge=0000+0000+0102+0292). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-identify-this-plant/368561/11 "2006-08-13T17:36:02Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Here’s another picture of [Oxalis corniculata; Creeping Wood Sorrel](http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=&enlarge=0000+0000+0102+0292). [/QUOTE] That sure looks like it. And it creeps! WooHOO! It’s low and thick and bushy when you see it growing like it does in a garden. Thanks for your help!