Sheep Sorrel

Rumex acetosella

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Caryophyllales

Family:

Polygonaceae (Dock)

Also in this family:

Alpine Bistort, Amphibious Bistort, Argentine Dock, Black Bindweed, Broad-leaved Dock, Clustered Dock, Common Bistort, Common Buckwheat, Common Knotgrass, Common Sorrel, Copse Bindweed, Cornfield Knotgrass, Curled Dock, Equal-leaved Knotgrass, Fiddle Dock, French Sorrel, Garden Rhubarb, Giant Knotweed, Golden Dock, Greek Dock, Iceland Purslane, Japanese Knotweed, Least Water-pepper, Lesser Knotweed, Marsh Dock, Monk's Rhubarb, Mountain Sorrel, Northern Dock, Northern Knotgrass, Pale Persicaria, Patience Dock, Ray's Knotgrass, Red Bistort, Redleg, Russian Vine, Scottish Dock, Sea Knotgrass, Shore Dock, Tasteless Water-pepper, Water Dock, Water-pepper, Wood Dock

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

25 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Beaches, farmland, grassland, heathland, lawns, meadows, roadsides, sand dunes, waterside, woodland.

Flower:

Green, 3 petals

Small green flowers which are frequently tinged red. The flowers grow in compact leafless spikes and are almost always unbranched.

Fruit:

A round, brown, 3-edged seed (achene).

Leaves:

Linear, untoothed, arrow-shaped leaves. The two linear basal lobes are pointed and distinctive in shape. Stem leaves are alternately arranged. Not hairy.

Other Names:

Common Sheep Sorrel, Cow Sorrel, Cuckoo Bread, Cuckoo's Sorrel, Field Sorrel, Gentleman's Sorrel, Green Sauce, Horse Sorrel, Mountain Sorrel, Ranty-tanty, Red Sorrel, Red Weed, Sour Dock, Sour Grass, Sour Weed, Sourleaf, Surette, Toad's Sorrel.

Frequency (UK):

Common

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map