Sorrels to love or hate

Press, 27 January 1988, Page 13

Sorrels to love or hate

David Burton’s article on Sorrel (“The Press,” January 5, 1988) was very interesting, but it contains several inaccuracies

caused by confusion of botanical and common names.

In New Zealand three species of sorrel have been recorded wild, and a fourth one is in cultivation only. One of the wild species is also one of our most abundant and übiquitous weeds. This is Rumex acetosella or sheep’s sorrel, often a pernicious garden weed because of its long, slender, yellow underground

By

W. R. SYKES

of the Botany Division,

D.S.I.R. Christchurch.

stems which are difficult to eradicate. A third European species, R. acetosa, also has a long association with Europeans, and unlike the previous two was presumably deliberately introduced for cultivation to this country. Here, and in Britain, it is usually simply called sorrel. Finally, there is the cultivated R. scutatus, French sorrel, which is

closely related to R. acetosa, but has much wider leaves which are all stalked, unlike those of R. acetosa, and are less sour to the taste. This is the commonest sorrel grown in New Zealand now and can be used in the various ways well-defined by David Burton.

Finally, David Burton mentions the wood sorrel, which is not a species of Rumex at all, but as he

says, is Oxalis acetosella. This little, white-flowered European woodland plant has also been used there for its acidic leaves. However, it has never been recorded as a weed in New Zealand, and I have not seen it in cultivation here either.

Of the 18 species of the huge genus Oxalis which have been collected wild here the most likely one to which David Burton was referring to is O. corniculata. This little yellow-flowered plant would fit the bill insofar as it is a common weed with clover-like leaves.