Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Yellow Wood Sorrel
This is another plant that I recall from my childhood.
I can remember somewhere along the way some older child told us that this was the "sauerkraut" plant, and, indeed, when we in our innocence tried them, we found the stems did have a pleasantly sour taste when chewed.
Eventually someone corrected my misunderstanding about sauerkraut, but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying a stem or two off this plant when I come across it every so often—just for old times sake!
The sourness comes from oxalic acid, which in small amounts is salty and refreshing, but which can be toxic. Both the botanical prefix, Oxalis, in Latin, and the common name, sorrel, in Old French = surele, are the words for "sour" in these languages. One popular household cleansing powder uses oxalic acid as an ingredient to aid in removing dirt.
This particular variety is commonly seen along the edge of fields and lawns, where it stands more or less upright, thus the scientific suffix, stricta, for "upright growth".
And besides providing a refreshing chew or help in cleaning your pots, it is also a pretty yellow flower!
Go to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.