Plant · P-305

Sheep Sorrel

Rumex acetosella

Sheep Sorrel is a smaller, more strongly lemon-flavored cousin of common sorrel that spreads by creeping rhizome into a low patch you will never be short of for a salad garnish. It dislikes lime: on calcareous ground its seedlings turn chlorotic and struggle to establish, and it is most at home in acid, sandy woodland and savanna soil rather than heavy, fertile clay. Precisely because of that dislike, its unplanned appearance anywhere is useful information - it is a recognized indicator of dry, acidic, low-calcium, low-fertility ground worth testing further.