Species library › Oxalis › Oxalis purpurea
Other Well documented

Oxalis purpurea

A low, winter-growing bulbous Oxalis from the Western Cape that leafs up with the autumn rains, flowers in late winter and spring, and dies back to a dormant bulb for the hot dry summer. Grow it cool, bright and moist from autumn to spring, then keep the pot dry while dormant.

Oxalis purpurea
Photo: SAplants, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Open sandy and loamy flats, renosterveld and fynbos edges and disturbed ground in the winter-rainfall Cape, usually among low vegetation in full sun.

Mostly lowland around the Cape Peninsula and Boland; the few elevation records span 2 to about 1,650 m, median 762 m.

Cape ProvincesEswatiniNorthern Provinces

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Oxalis purpurea? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, unmodified.