Rumex acetosella Seeds | Sheep’s Sorrel
LATIN NAME: Rumex acetosella
COMMON NAME: Sheep’s Sorrel
Plant Profile
Rumex acetosella is a small sorrel with arrow-shaped leaves and a slender, reddish flowering stem, and it is a reliable indicator of acid, infertile soil. The leaves are up to five centimetres long with two pointed lobes at the base, and they taste sharply of lemon. The plant spreads by a creeping rootstock and forms patches rather than single plants.
The species is native to Europe and western Asia and has been carried around the world with pasture seed and with hay. It is now a weed of lawns, of pasture and of disturbed ground on every continent, and in some places it is a serious pasture weed because it is unpalatable to stock and takes over grazed swards.
Science & Biotechnology
The sour taste comes from oxalic acid, which is present at up to one per cent of the fresh weight. Oxalic acid binds calcium into insoluble oxalate, and a diet heavy in sorrel can reduce calcium availability and, in susceptible people, contribute to kidney stones. The plant also contains anthraquinones in the root, which give it a mild laxative action.
The plant is dioecious, with separate male and female plants, and it spreads mainly by rhizome rather than by seed. The rootstock is shallow and brittle, and cultivation breaks it into fragments that each grow into a new plant, which is why harrowing a patch makes it worse. It is also a host of the rust fungus Uromyces rumicis, which has been studied as a possible biological control.
Uses & Benefits
The young leaves are eaten in salads and in soups in spring, when the acidity is at its lowest, and they are used in some regions as a substitute for lemon in fish dishes. The plant was also used to curdle milk for a sour cheese.
In folk medicine the leaf was used as a diuretic and as a cooling drink for fever, and the root as a mild laxative. Sheep sorrel appears in some herbal cancer formulas, a use that has no clinical support and that carries the oxalate risk. The plant is not a commercial crop, and it is controlled as a weed in pasture.
Growing from Seed
This sorrel needs light to germinate and comes up quickly. Surface-sow in spring on an acid mix, and seedlings appear in two to three weeks. The plant also spreads by root fragments, so a single introduction can establish a colony.
The plant grows on acid, sandy, infertile soil and is suppressed by lime and by phosphate. In a garden it will appear on its own in acid lawns and in gravel, and the way to reduce it is to raise the pH and to improve fertility, not to pull it. In a wildflower meadow it can be tolerated as a minor constituent.
Our Take
A small, sharp-tasting weed that tells you the soil is acid and hungry. Eat a few leaves, but do not expect a lawn to stay free of it.
Related Reading
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