Oxalis is the largest genus in the wood sorrel family Oxalidaceae. Of the approximately 900 known species in the Oxalidaceae, 800 belong to Oxalis. Many of the species are known as Wood Sorrel or Woodsorrel. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species diversity is particularly rich in tropical Brazil and Mexico and in South Africa.
These plants are annual or perennial. The leavesare divided into three to ten or more round, heart-shaped or lanceolateleaflets, arranged in a whorl with all the leaflets of roughly equalsize. The majority of species have three leaflets; in these species,the leaves are superficially similar to those of some clovers,though clovers differ in having the leaflets not in a whorl, and ofunequal size with two smaller side leaflets and one larger centralleaflet. Some species exhibit rapid changes in leaf angle in responseto temporarily high light intensity. The flowers have five petals, usually fused at the base, and ten stamens; the petal colour varies from white to pink, red or yellow. The fruit is a small capsule containing several seeds. The roots are often tuberous, and several species also reproduce vegetatively by production of bulbils, which detach to produce new plants.