## 3 Results and Discussion
### Sugars, Organic Acids and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)  
The contents of fructose, sucrose, and oxalic acid were statistically equivalent in the flowers, leaves, and stems of _Oxalis pes-caprae_ (Table 2). The leaves of _Oxalis pes-caprae_ were richer in maltose than the rest of the plant, while they had the lowest content of glucose; this sugar (glucose) was more abundant in stems. The fructose in _Oxalis pes-caprae_ was higher than those found in other plants such as _Calligonium comosum_ L. or _Cynara carduculus_ L. [35; 36]; however, in the flowers of _Moringa \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Parameters (\%)** & **Flowers** & **Leaves** & **Stems** & **\(p\)-Value** & **ANOVA \({}^{\dagger}\)** \\ \hline Moisture (freeze-dried) & 9.05 \(\pm\) 0.78 b \(\ddagger\) & 9.17 \(\pm\) 1.22 b & 11.10 \(\pm\) 0.54 a & 0.0000 & *** \\ Moisture & 85.86 \(\pm\) 0.26 b & 86.07 \(\pm\) 0.36 b & 90.95 \(\pm\) 0.57 a & 0.0000 & *** \\ Ash & 8.27 \(\pm\) 0.20 b & 12.93 \(\pm\) 0.72 a & 3.15 \(\pm\) 1.01 c & 0.0000 & *** \\ Total dietary fiber & 30.68 \(\pm\) 1.32 b & 28.72 \(\pm\) 1.50 b & 36.36 \(\pm\) 3.69 a & 0.0000 & *** \\ Protein & 13.45 \(\pm\) 0.28 b & 19.35 \(\pm\) 0.54 a & 8.86 \(\pm\) 1.78 c & 0.0000 & *** \\ Fat & 6.66 \(\pm\) 2.16 b & 12.68 \(\pm\) 0.10 a & 3.53 \(\pm\) 0.40 c & 0.0000 & *** \\ Carbohydrates & 62.57 \(\pm\) 0.55 b & 45.87 \(\pm\) 0.80 c & 73.34 \(\pm\) 1.15 a & 0.0000 & *** \\ Energy (kJ) & 1522 \(\pm\) 16.90 & 1569 \(\pm\) 23.04 & 1506 \(\pm\) 18.57 & 0.1044 & NS \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* NS: not significant at \(p>\) 0.05; *** significant at \(p<\) 0.001. \({}^{\dagger}\) Values (mean of 3 replications) followed by the same letter within the same row were not significantly different (\(p>\) 0.05) according to [PERSON]’s least significant difference test. n.d.: not detected.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Proximate composition of _Oxalis pes-caprae_ L. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Compound (g kg\({}^{-1}\) dw)** & **Flowers** & **Leaves** & **Stems** & **\(p\)-Value** & **ANOVA \({}^{\ddagger}\)** \\ \hline Fructose & 107 \(\pm\) 33.77 & 103 \(\pm\) 4.65 & 77.9 \(\pm\) 8.90 & 0.2421 & NS \\ Glucose & 75.3 \(\pm\) 18.59 a \({}^{\ddagger}\) & 33.2 \(\pm\) 3.43 b & 88.9 \(\pm\) 1.09 a & 0.0019 & ** \\ Maltose & n.d. & 40.35 \(\pm\) 6.22 a & 14.04 \(\pm\) 1.87 b & 0.0022 & ** \\ Sucrose & 193 \(\pm\) 14.76 & 192 \(\pm\) 4.20 & 173 \(\pm\) 3.03 & 0.0792 & NS \\ Oxalic acid & 98.0 \(\pm\) 21.51 & 98.2 \(\pm\) 6.55 & 110 \(\pm\) 7.56 & 0.4855 & NS \\ Ascorbic Acid (mg 100 g\({}^{-1}\) dw) & 0.42 \(\pm\) 0.006 c & 3.17 \(\pm\) 0.007 b & 3.50 \(\pm\) 0.004 a & 0.0000 & *** \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* NS: not significant at \(p>\) 0.05; ** significant at \(p<\) 0.01, *** significant at \(p<\) 0.001. \({}^{\ddagger}\) Values (mean of 3 replications) followed by the same letter within the same row were not significantly different (\(p>\) 0.05) according to [PERSON]’s least significant difference test. n.d.: not detected.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Sugars and organic acids found in _Oxalis pes-caprae_ L.  
oleifera_ Lam. and _Malva sylvestris_ L., 75.6 and 87.2 g kg\({}^{-1}\), respectively, [32; 37] the values were very similar to those found in the current study. The contents of glucose found here were close to those previously reported in _Cynana carduculus_ L., _Moringa oleifera_ Lam., or _Malva sylvestris_ L., 99.5, 120.7, 73.6 g kg\({}^{-1}\), respectively [32; 36; 37]. Finally, it is important to comment that sucrose is the predominant sugar in most WEPs [35; 36; 38; 39]; however, the values of sucrose found in these studies were lower than those reported here for _Oxalis pes-caprae_. The concentration of oxalic acid found in _Oxalis pes-caprae_ L. is much higher than those found in other types of WEPs, such as _Allium ampelorrasum_ L. (27.83 mg/100 g) [26]. However, the current values were closer to those found in the leaves of _Cynara carduculus_ L. var. _altilis_ (81 g kg\({}^{-1}\)) [36].