Sheep's Sorrel
Sheep's Sorrel - Rumex acetosella
Low to short, slender, tufted plant with erect stems. Leaves arrow shaped with narrow long basal lobes spreading, or pointing forward. Flowers greenish but turning red, with male and female flowers on separate plants. The upper leaves do not clasp the stem.
Common Sorrel is larger and has leaves with smaller basal leaf lobes pointing backwards (sideways or forwards in Sheep's Sorrel) and with the upper leaves clasping the stem.
The size should identify it, but also check the basal and stem-leaves. The flowers are very similar to other sorrels
Dry meadows, grassy heaths, bare places.
May to August.
Perennial.
Widespread and frequent throughout Britain, particularly in the west.
Frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 240 of the 617 tetrads.
David Nicholls
Charnwood Lodge
01 September 2012
Melinda Bell
Warren Hills
26 May 2023 Donkey Lane Allotments Sapcote SP 4860 9304 (taken 9.7.2006).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
09 July 2006
David Nicholls
Bradgate Park
05 July 2013
David Nicholls
Croft Hill
12 May 2011
Barbara Cooper
Bradgate Park
07 May 2015
Barbara Cooper
Beacon Hill
21 May 2015
David Nicholls
Hill Hole Quarry
02 June 2011
Graham Calow
Narborough Road Cemetery, Cosby
17 June 2016
Graham Calow
Croft Pasture
16 April 2014
David Gould
Croft Pasture, Leics.
22 May 2015
David Nicholls
Bradgate Park
11 February 2016
 Donkey Lane Allotments Sapcote SP 4860 9304 (taken 9.7.2006).JPG)
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Apion rubens
The larvae of the weevil Apion rubens mine the leaves of Sheep's Sorrel causing galls to form as swellings along the mid rib or petiole. These are often reddish or sometimes yellow in colour.