Sheep Sorrel
Parts Usually Used
Fresh leaves and shoots.
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Sorrel is a slender, smooth, sour-tasting, perennial plant, 4-12 inches high; with a clump of dark green, arrow shaped basal leaves and an erect, leafy flowering stem, grows from 1 to 3 feet high and bears alternate, light-green leaves that are oblong or oblong-oval in shape and range from long-petioled at the bottom to nearly sessile at the top of the plant. They have two pointed lobes at the base and may be obtuse or pointed at the apex.
Tiny greenish or reddish flowers grow in whorls in narrow elongated spikes, male on one plant, female on another, bloom in panicled racemes from May to August. Blooms are followed by tiny, shiny brown, three-angled nutlets enclosed by calyces.
Where Found
Very common in damp meadows, in yards, grassland and fields, along roads and shorelines, usually on acid soils, in Europe and Asia, throughout much of the United States and Canada, except the far north and south.
Medicinal Properties
Antiscorbutic, astringent, diuretic, laxative, febrifuge, vermifuge
Biochemical Information
Citric, malic and oxalic acids, tannin, vitamin C and iron
Legends, Myths and Stories
Sorrel is a name applied to several unrelated plants having in their leaves an acid sap that gives them a sour flavor. An outmoded use for the extract of sorrel leaves is as a stain remover on linen cloth. An ancient Chinese belief was that sorrel juice could remove freckles.
Uses
Historically, herbalists prepared a decoction of the root for stomach hemorrhages, diarrhea, and excessive menstrual bleeding. A tea brewed from the leaves and flowers, often sweetened with honey, was traditionally administered for mouth ulcers, sore throats, fevers, general inflammation, intestinal worms, and scurvy. In culinary traditions, the springtime leaves were sometimes consumed fresh in salads or cooked similarly to spinach.
Externally, practitioners utilized a tea or infusion of the herb as a topical wash or lotion for various skin conditions, boils, abscesses, and sores, while poultices made from the leaves were applied to soothe localized inflammation.
Warning
May cause poisoning in large doses, due to the high oxalic acid and tannin content.
Bibliography
The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. , Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 Chinese Medicinal Herbs , compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973. The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A.
, Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print) Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants , by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, Crescent Books (January 27, 1992).
The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974