Oxalis corniculata L.
Vernacular name: Creeping woodsorrel (Hindi: चरी)
Species Name: Oxalis corniculata L.
Family: Oxalidaceae
Habit: Perennial creeping herb.
Stem: Prostrate to ascending, 10–40 cm long, rooting at the nodes, pubescent with appressed hairs.
Leaf: Long-petioled, palmately compound, with 3 obcordate leaflets, 5–15 × 6–12 mm, green or purple-flushed, sensitive to light.
Flowering: Year-round.
Flowers: 1–5 per umbel on a long peduncle; 5 yellow petals (obovate, 4–10 mm, reflexed), 10 stamens (5 long and 5 short, anthers), superior 5-carpellate ovary.
Fruit: Cylindrical, pubescent capsule, 8–20 mm long, explosively dehiscent.
Uses:
- Leaf juice serves as vermifuge, diuretic, and cooling remedy in Ayurveda.
- Whole plant treats dysentery, diarrhea, and skin inflammations traditionally.
- “Sleeping grass” folds leaves at night; famine food source; tribal fever cure.
