This unprecious foliage

[Rimbaud]

I don't think this is native (?), but it's everywhere in my nursery! Propagates by layering, seeds, comes back from the roots, cuttings seem to strike in air!!! What's it called, anyone know??

weed pic 1

weed pic 2

[eataust]

Clover??

[Bluetongue]

Looks to me like an Oxalis sp. There are exotic and native species, so if you know the flower colour that'd help narrow it down.

[rimbaud]

i think the flowers are yellow... but they're not flowering and my memory is scandalously bad will post back here with some flower pics soon..

[eataust]

I'm pretty certain it's clover (Oxalis).. Yes, it's everywhere - but consider it this way; the roots are edible. And there's a native version (I hadn't realised that until re-reading Tim Low, so I feel better about my populations inhabiting the potplants).

[Bluetongue]

According to the Flora of Melbourne, our local species are 'usually hairy with trifoliate clover-like leaves and small yellow flowers which are followed by cylindrical fruit. Propagation is by seed.' The ones I found in my Tim Low book have pink flowers.

[eataust]

There's a good photo of clover in last weekend's Good Weekend, in Cheryl Maddock's garden section. Was going to scan it in at work but ran out of time.

I've got both the little clumpy stuff you were pulling out of your pots, Rimbaud, and the taller sturdier stuff. I suspect the small ones are the natives, and the juicier ones are the exotics. Grow 'em big and you can eat the roots, apparently :)

edit: Bluetongue has gently and politely pointed out to me that oxalis and clover are, in fact, completely different things - whereas I thought Oxalis was merely the latin name of clover. So completely and utterly ignore everything I've said previously!!

[Bluetongue]

EA, clover and oxalis look a lot alike when they're not flowering, but they're different species. Clover is Trifolium and oxalis is Oxalis I've had both pop up as volunteers in my pot plants, so understand the confusion. Common names such as 'shamrocks' don't help much either.

The flowers are quite different though and although clover's good bee forage and a valuable pasture species, being able to fix nitrogen in the soil, I don't know about oxalis. I'm glad to hear that some oxalis are tasty - there had to be a silver lining there somewhere.

Sorry I can't figure how to put photos in here, but a quick search should give you examples of respective flowers to compare.

[clare_b74]

Looks to me like oxalis rather than clover, and clover to me says 'complex little bobbly flowers' not 'yellow' (highly technical I know )

Here's a page I've found with some native oxalis pics:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~ewan/oxalis.htm

Bummer, the lovely pink groundcover growing eveywhere about my place is a weed... Oh well, one more for the collection!

Try also the ANBG's SpeciesLink search engine:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/ibis/speciesLinks.html

C

[Rimbaud]

Thanks Clare - i think that's the one. will confirm when it flowers again...