Sheep Sorrel can be a rather pesky perennial. The roots run quite a ways - sometimes in garden beds that don't seem overrun with sorrel, I can still find an entire network of the brownish-red, thready roots. In loose soil they are easy to pull up, however.
Rumex prefers acid soils that are low in nitrogen. One of the recommended practices for control is simply to lime and fertilize regularly! You can also eat the leaves, but they are quite tart. Try growing one of the widely-available cultivated varieties instead.
An interesting side note - being in the Buckwheat family, Sorrel's tiny flowers don't have any petals!
More of a nuisance than a full-blown pest, at least in my garden, this perennial herb can spread both by seed and by its thread-like roots. On the plus side, some people use small amounts of the leaves to add a lemon flavor to cooked dishes.
Genus: Rumex
Species: acetosella
Family: Polygonaceae
Common Name: Sheep Sorrel
Origin: Eurasia
All contents © Travis Saling
This page was last updated
November 18, 2013