OXALIS NOVEMFOLIOLATA, A NEW SPECIES OF OXALIS SECT. CARNOSAE ENDEMIC TO THE ATACAMA DESERT OF NORTHERN CHILE

solamente en Falda Verde cerca de Chañaral. Se distingue de las demás especies halladas en el territorio chileno por sus hojas en su mayoría 9-folioladas. Tanto la morfología del cáliz, forma de vida y suculencia, así como los marcadores moleculares, la agrupan a la sección Carnosae. Oxalis L. comprises about 490 species (Lourteig 2000). It reaches major diversity in southern Africa (Salter 1944) and South America (Lourteig 1994, 2000) especially in arid desert and mountain environments. Members of section Carnosae Reiche are typical components of the flora of the subtropical desert belt along the South American Pacific coast and their diversity is centered in the Atacama coastal desert between 24°S and 30°S with about sixteen endemi