Oxalis ciliaris var. ciliaris

Oxalis ciliaris var. ciliaris is an erect-stemmed perennial, a geophyte commonly reaching 10 cm in height, occasionally 30 cm. The conspicuous lower stem bears the above-ground plant parts at its top, apart from a few leaves that may appear along its length. The corm is covered in a thin, brown tunic.

The variety is distributed in the Western Cape from around Ceres, Tulbagh and the Overberg eastwards, mainly along the coast, to the Eastern Cape as far as Alexandria. The photo was taken in the Biedouw Valley.

The habitat is stony flats and slopes in clayey, sandy and loamy soils. The plant is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; www.worldfloraonline.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).