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Rumex acetosella

Perennial

HomePerennialRumex acetosella

Heaths and acid grasslands. A weed of acid soils.

Family: Polygonaceae
Height: 0.3 m / 1 ft
Sun, Semi-shade
Light, Medium and Heavy Soil
Moist

Plant Rating

Edible Uses: 4 of 5
Medicinal Uses: 3 of 5
Other Uses: 1 of 5

Native Habitat

Sheeps Sorrel, Common sheep sorrel Rumex acetosella native habitat is Heaths and acid grasslands. A weed of acid soils.

Edible Uses

Leaves - raw or cooked. A delicious lemon-like flavour, most people consider them too strong to use in quantity, but they are excellent as a flavouring in mixed salads. The leaves should only be used in small quantities due to the oxalic acid content. The leaves can be used as thickeners in soups etc, they can also be dried for later use. Root - cooked. It can be dried, ground into a powder and made into noodles. Seed - raw or cooked. Easy to harvest, but the seed is rather small and fiddly to use. A drink similar to lemonade (but without the fizz) is made by boiling up the leaves.

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