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Field Sorrel
Rumex acetosella
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Field Sorrel is a small, slender perennial of open, dry ground. It has narrow, arrow-shaped leaves and airy, often reddish flower stems with tiny greenish to red flowers. Widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, it often pops up on sandy or disturbed soils.
Did you know?
- Male and female flowers grow on separate plants.
- The leaves taste distinctly sour.
About the species
Identification
Small, wiry perennial, usually 5–25 cm tall but sometimes taller. Stems slender, mostly unbranched below the flowers, often reddish. Leaves form a low rosette and a few along the stem; they are narrow and arrow-shaped with two small side points at the base; sour-tasting. At each leaf base is a thin, papery collar around the stem. Flower clusters are tall, narrow and airy, often about half the stem length; flowers tiny greenish to red. Later it carries shiny brown, three‑sided seeds. Smaller than common sorrel, with narrower leaves whose side lobes point outward. Flowers in Finland June–August.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
rock
Flowering
Jun–Aug
About the habitat
Dry, open places on acidic soils: meadows, fields, rocks, sandy and gravelly shores, roadsides, railway edges and clearings; readily colonises bare ground. Common throughout the country.
Sources
Photo: AnRo0002, CC0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20160508Rumex acetosella.jpg
Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38285
Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38285
Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Metsät: harjumetsät, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38285
Text: Pinkka (Luomus), CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38285
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahosuolahein%C3%A4
