Great Yellow Woodsorrel
Oxalis grandis
Found in rich moist forests, rocky bluffs. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 1–2 feet
- Spread
- 1–2 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to average
Space about 1.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 44 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual or perennial
- Bloom
- May to August
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 33 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.
Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits
Habitats
Moist forests; cliffs, ledges and rocky summits.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Oxalis
- Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
- Dysstroma truncataMarbled Carpet
- Galgula partitaThe Wedgling
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
22BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Oxalis
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
18BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Oxalis
- Ammodramus savannarumGrasshopper Sparrow
- Ammospiza leconteiiLeConte's Sparrow
- Antigone canadensisSandhill Crane
- Bonasa umbellusRuffed Grouse
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
- Haemorhous mexicanusHouse Finch
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Show all 18
- Melozone crissalisCalifornia Towhee
- Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
- Passer domesticusHouse Sparrow
- Pooecetes gramineusVesper Sparrow
- Spizella passerinaChipping Sparrow
- Spizella pusillaField Sparrow
- Turdus migratoriusAmerican Robin
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Oxalidaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–7b
- Soil pH
- Neutral
- Flower color
- Yellow or red
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow or red” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Hardiness · “Zones 5a–7b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “1–2 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Life cycle · “Annual or perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Neutral” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “1–2 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Great Yellow Wood Sorrel
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S4S5 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4G5 |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications