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Oxalis squamata; photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-02-08

Oxalis squamata Zucc.

Oxalidaceae · Argentina South, Chile Central

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Oxalis squamata, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Oxalis squamata, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Oxalis squamata, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Oxalis squamata, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Oxalis squamata, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Oxalis squamata, photograph (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY) 58 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
-5.4°C
Jul at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
19°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,408mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–57DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes November to February (May to August at the habitat), with nights below freezing; no growing season read. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Oxalis

Oxalis is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family, Oxalidaceae, comprising over 550 species. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species diversity is particularly rich in tropical Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Oxalis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season and no growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,015 mm of 1,374 mm) falls in May to August, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in June, July, August and September, so the rule reads no growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to February.

Rain

1,374 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,015 mm of it May to August. Wettest month June at 312 mm, driest month January at 16 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 814 mm to 2,383 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,408 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,374 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 57 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 58).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -5.4 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -11.0 °C to -1.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 18.9 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is -5.4 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, July, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 56% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Oxalis squamata through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 19 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low -5.4 °C; 1,374 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 16–57RH 52–56%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 57 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C19 / 13–2319 / 14–2317 / 12–2212 / 7–187 / 0–133 / -4–102 / -5–94 / -3–106 / -1–129 / 3–1513 / 6–1817 / 10–21
Night °C6 / 3–116 / 3–115 / 1–102 / -3–6-2 / -8–3-4 / -10–0-5 / -11–-1-5 / -10–0-4 / -10–1-1 / -7–31 / -4–64 / -1–9
Rain mm16 / 5–2317 / 7–2734 / 17–5878 / 45–140216 / 135–398312 / 185–507270 / 179–411217 / 132–345106 / 62–17851 / 30–10135 / 17–6322 / 8–33
DLI57 / 56–5850 / 48–5241 / 38–4330 / 26–3321 / 17–2416 / 13–2019 / 15–2225 / 21–2936 / 31–3946 / 42–4953 / 51–5657 / 56–58
RH %53 / 51–5553 / 51–5453 / 50–5552 / 50–5753 / 49–5954 / 48–6052 / 47–5953 / 47–6055 / 50–6056 / 53–6056 / 54–5955 / 52–56

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, -1057 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -16.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -10.5 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 57 grid cells holding the 119 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2472:2194 (-33.625, -70.275). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 57 distinct grid cells holding 119 of the 119 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2472:2194 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.50_-70.000, lapse-corrected -1057 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2176 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArgentina South, Chile Central · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-33.605, -70.287 · in the densest population, 143 records (82% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 175 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 119 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 63 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 16 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 56 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 175 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Oxalis squamata, photograph 1did not loadOxalis squamata, photograph 2did not loadOxalis squamata, photograph 3did not loadOxalis squamata, photograph 4did not loadOxalis squamata, photograph 5did not loadOxalis squamata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Acaena splendens Acaena splendens Rosaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedSchizanthus hookeri Schizanthus hookeri Mariposita Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakChuquiraga oppositifolia Chuquiraga oppositifolia Asteraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakTarasa humilis Tarasa humilis Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossCalandrinia graminifolia Calandrinia graminifolia Montiaceae Photo: CC BY, aacocucciAlstroemeria pallida Alstroemeria pallida Alstroemeriaceae Photo: CC BY, Víctor Sarabia Sánchez

Other Oxalis 84 in the reference

Oxalis acetosella Oxalis acetosella Wood-sorrel Photo: CC BY, Марина ДавлетшинаOxalis adenophylla Oxalis adenophylla Silver Shamrock Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakOxalis alpina Oxalis alpina Alpine woodsorrel Photo: CC BY, Michal HonskusOxalis arenaria Oxalis arenaria Oxalidaceae Photo: CC BY, Constanza Vargas VillegasOxalis articulata Oxalis articulata Pink-sorrel Photo: CC BY, Ryan DonnellyOxalis barrelieri Oxalis barrelieri Barrelier's woodsorrel Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreOxalis bowiei Oxalis bowiei Bowie's wood-sorrel Photo: CC BY, 岸本年郎Oxalis brasiliensis Oxalis brasiliensis Oxalidaceae Photo: CC BY, Saryu Mae 前 朝琉 Oxalis brevis Oxalidaceae Oxalis californica Oxalis californica Oxalidaceae Photo: CC BY, Rachel AllinghamOxalis caprina Oxalis caprina Oxalidaceae Photo: CC BY, Dave RichardsonOxalis ciliaris Oxalis ciliaris Oxalidaceae Photo: CC BY, Karen Eichholz all 85 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Acetosella geminata; Acetosella macropus; Acetosella polyantha; Acetosella squamata; Oxalis chilensis and 7 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Oxalidaceae
Described by
Zucc.
Native to
Argentina South, Chile Central
Wild records
175 in range · 63 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.50_-70.000, lapse-corrected -1057 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, -1057 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 20 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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