Wood-Sorrel (Brief Profile)
(Oxalis varieties)

For more information and links, go to the main wood-sorrel page.

Description

• wood-sorrel is a seemingly perennial weed with many delicate light green branches
• it looks like some sort of clover or shamrock on first glance
• each leaf has three inversely heart-shaped leaflets like clover leaflets, which are acidly sour-tasting
• in direct sunlight the leaves tend to fold up like little umbrellas (as in this picture)
• called a woodland flower, wood-sorrel seems to grow best in the shade and possibly in rich soil
• there are at least four kinds of wood-sorrel (Note: I believe the species name Oxalis acetosella is not longer used, but am not certain)
• all these kinds are considered quite edible except creeping wood-sorrel
• common wood-sorrel (Oxalis montana) has white or pale pink flowers with prominent pink veins on the petals, blooming from May to July; it thrives from Canada and the northern U.S. to Tennessee and North Carolina; it grows 3 to 4 inches high (7.5 to 10 centimeters)
• yellow wood-sorrel (Oxalis stricta) is a perennial that stands more upright than the other wood-sorrels and has pale yellow flowers that bloom from May to October; its pointy seedpods grow at sharp angles from their bent stems, jutting straight up; this widespread weed lives on waste ground and lawns and grows 6 to 15 inches high (15 to 37.5 centimeters)
• violet wood-sorrel (Oxalis violacea) is a perennial that has rose-purple flowers with flaring petals, blooming from April to July; it thrives in open woods, banks, and prairies from Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts to Texas and Florida; it grows 4 to 8 inches high (10 to 20 centimeters)
• creeping wood-sorrel (Oxalis corniculata) is a creeping perennial with yellow flowers that bloom from April until frost; it has deflexed seedpods and large, brownish stipules (Stipules are leaflike plant parts that grow on the bases of the leafstalks); it thrives in waste places everywhere and grows 6 to 10 inches high (15 to 25 centimeters)
• yellow wood-sorrel is the one I am most familiar with and the one I will describe here
• yellow wood-sorrel grows small, simple flowers with five petals, then relatively long, pointy green seed pods with five flat or concave sides
• inside the seedpods are tiny seeds that sometimes pop out if you twist or bend them

• all edible wood-sorrel leaves can be eaten raw in salads, as garnishes, as snacks, or to flavor soups or sauces, and have an enjoyable tart, sour, almost lemony taste; the flowers and seedpods are thought to be about the same
• they can be made into a lemonade-like drink by steeping them in hot water for ten minutes, chilling, and adding sugar
• a recipe for a wood-sorrel butter sauce for scallops can be found at the Food and Wine site
• wood-sorrel leaves are among the more palatable wild foods, but don't eat too much of them, because of risk of loss of calcium and other nutrients, irritation to the digestive system, and aggravation of kidney and other health problems
• wood-sorrels tend to be rich in Vitamin C
• creeping wood-sorrel leaves have been chewed, poulticed, and made into tea for several kinds of medicines (the other wood-sorrels are not reported to have medicinal value)
• the whole yellow wood-sorrel plant yields a orange or yellow dye.
• you probably won't confuse wood-sorrel with clover or black medick, but be careful anyway

For more information and links, go to the main wood-sorrel page.

The information in these pages is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but I make no guarantees about its accuracy, nor do I take responsibility for any damage or injury caused by use or misuse of this information.

Much of this information, especially the medicinal details, comes from A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (Peterson Field Guides); A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants : Eastern and Central North America by Lee Allen Peterson, Roger Tory Peterson (Peterson Field Guides); the Kingdom: Plantae site; Moonwatcher; and A Modern Herbal (volumes one and two), as reprinted on Botanical.com.