Common Sorrel - Rumex acetosa
Short to tall acid tasting plant. Leaves arrow shaped, the basal lobes pointing backwards, the upper leaves clasping the stem. Leaves often turning very red at fruiting time. Flowers in few branched or unbranched spikes, male and female flowers on separate plants tinted reddish.
Sheep Sorrel has similar flowers, but is smaller, and the upper leaves do not clasp the stem, unlike Common Sorrel
Mainly found in meadows.
May and June.
Perennial.
Very common throughout Britain
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 592 of the 617 tetrads.
Saharima Roenisch
Evington Park
14 June 2017
David Nicholls
Coalville Meadows
26 June 2021
Craig Mabbett
Countesthorpe Leicester Rd verge
01 June 2021
Paul Ruddoch
Melton Country Park
22 May 2015
Mike Higgott
Anstey, Bloor Estate footpath
30 April 2023
Andy's Rutland
Merry' Meadows
15 May 2018
David Nicholls
Kirby Muxloe, Glenfield Lane verge
31 May 2022
David Nicholls
Oakham, Brooke Hill
31 January 2023
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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Species profile
- Common names
- Common Sorrel
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Caryophyllales
- Family:
- Polygonaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 295
- First record:
- 21/09/1998 (Anthony Fletcher)
- Last record:
- 04/03/2025 (Isabel Raval)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
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