Ladies’ Sorrel.Oxalis corniculata, var. stricta.Yellow Wood Sorrel.Sheep Sorrel.
Found in gardens and moist woodlands from June to October.
The branching, leafy stalk, about 6 or 8 inches in height, is smooth, silky with hairs when newly grown, and a clear, light green color.
The leaf is compound, with 3 broad, short, heart-shaped leaflets, that are somewhat folded on the midrib, and are thin, delicate, smooth; a clear green, paler underneath. The leaves, on their long slender stems, are alternately arranged.
The 5 spreading petals of the small flower are delicately thin, and show the veins faintly; they are a bright clean yellow, while the 5-parted shallow calyx is green; the 5 long and 5 short stamens which are joined together at the base are yellow. The flowers are arranged in a group of 2 to 6 on a long, light green stem, that springs from the angle of the leaf-stem and is generally of the same length.
Bud, blossom, and seed-pod may often be seen together on this plant, as is common to such a prolonged season of bloom. The pod is 5-sided, somewhat fuzzy with down, and bright green. Though hard to uproot, as the gardener knows, because of its underground runners, the plant is weak and apt to flop. The leaflets close entirely upon their midribs at night; their juice is slightly sour, and relished by children, who detect in its acid taste a sufficient resemblance to the Red Sorrel (R. acetosa) to warrant the folk-name given this oxalis.