Rumex acetosella L.
sheep's sorrel
Glabrous, dioecious perennial, generally somewhat reddish, sometimes ± hoary, often with an extensive system of slender, branching, yellow rhizomes with adventitious buds; flowering stems erect, c. 3-30 cm tall. Petiole slender, on lower lvs sometimes much > lamina. Lamina c. 1.5-5 × 0.2-2 cm, linear-oblong, lanceolate to elliptic, sour to taste, usually with a pair of lanceolate basal lobes at ± right angles to rachis, sometimes with a secondary lobe, or often entire in cauline lvs; apex obtuse to acute. Infl. usually reddish, sometimes yellowish, to c. 20 cm long, with slender branches, leafless or nearly so. Fls fascicled, on slender pedicels. Perianth of ♂ fls 1-2 mm long; margin hyaline. Outer perianth of ♀ fls 0.5-0.8 mm long, not reflexing; valves 1.2-1.5 mm long, entire, not tuberculate, not enlarging at fruiting, usually ± crimson, sometimes yellowish; margins acute. Nut 1.2-1.6 mm long, shining brown, obtusely angled.
N.; S.; St.: abundant throughout; K. (Raoul, but not persisting), A., C.
Europe 1867
Especially in open situations on poor, light, stony or sandy soils from sea level to c. 1500 m, also in riverbeds, poor pastures, pavement cracks, gutters and cultivated ground.
FL Jan-Dec.
Poisonous to stock (Connor 1977) but sometimes eaten like sorrel as a salad.
Sheep's sorrel can be a pernicious weed in gardens and nurseries because of the difficulty of eradicating the rhizomes with their adventitious buds. It is one of the most abundant weeds in N.Z. and its dominance is often so pronounced that the ground appears red from its infls. In many open, rocky and stony, high country areas, sheep's sorrel is the only naturalised plant present. On poor, dry or stony soils plants are often very stunted and completely deep red. It is a very variable plant and is sometimes difficult to distinguish from its segregate R. tenuifolius.
