Section Alpinae is included in subgenus Oxalis, originally published by Reiche in 1894. The species in this section can be described as follows: annuals or perennial herbs, cushion-like loose to very dense, 1-30 cm high. Roots long, deep, sometimes tubers. Acaulescent or subacaulescent, woody stems. Stipules welded, generally covering the stem, sometimes covering the branches. Leaves always trifoliolate, leaflets obcordate, cuneiform, apex retuse or emarginate, with variable incisions, unequal lobes, calli sometimes present, pubescent on one or both sides, hairs on the margin sometimes present. Flowers in few-to manyflowered cymes, umbeliform, cymes embedded into the cushions or exceeding the foliage. Corolla mostly yellow, in a few species purple. Capsule globose to cylindrical (López and Heibl, unpublished data).Orbicules, also known as Ubisch bodies (Bhandari, 1984) can be defined as corpuscles of variable size (0.14-20 µm) that show the same electron density, autofluorescence, resistance to electrolysis, and reaction to dyes compared to pollen exine (Rosenfeldt and Galati, 2008). Orbicules are species-specific structures as seen in Oxalis, Fagopyrum, Lilium, Silene, and Gnetum, among other species (Hesse, 1986), and they have been used to contribute to the taxonomy in