Rumex acetosella (Sheep's Sorrel) - photos and description
Four plants in above photo
Basal rosette of leaves, leaves are hastate
Basal leaf highlighted in above photo, leaf is hastate
Male flowers in above photo, flowers just beginning to open
Male flowers in above photo, flowers just beginning to open
Female flowers in above photo
Origin: Introduced.
General: Slender, rhizomatous perennial plants, with an upright growth habit. Plants glabrous.
Flowers: Inflorescence reddish in an open panicle. Plants dioecious (male and female flowers on different plants). We measured flowers at 2 mm long and 2 mm diameter.
Leaves: Leaves mostly basal, hastate (shaped like an arrowhead with basal lobes pointing away from the leaf blade). The leaf highlighted above was measured at 30 mm long by 22 mm wide. Stem leaves alternate.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 30 cm, we measured plants to 45 cm tall.
Habitat: Waste places and open woodlands.
Abundance: Uncommon.
How to identify this species of Rumex:
Plants dioecious, leaves hastate (Taxonomic Reminder for
Recognizing Saskatchewan Plants). This is the
only Rumex species in SK with hastate leaves.
Dioecious = flowers of only one sex on each plant; hastate = shaped like
an arrowhead with diverging basal lobes.
When and where photographed: Photos taken July 5th and 19th, prairie roadside, Cypress Hills, about 400 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.