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Gavin Bl

Identifying sorrel

Hi
I'm struggling to really get my head round what would identify sorrel as sorrel. Most of the pics I've seen, seem to vary substantially.

Is there anything in particular I should be looking out for?

thanks
Gav
gil

Almost unmistakeable lemony taste to the leaves. You wouldn't have to chew, just lick a cut/bruised bit.
Leaf is often quite substantial, the way that spinach beet leaves are, and curled at the edges, downwards as you look at the upper side of the leaf.
PeteS

I can't really add more than Gill's suggestion. However, when cuckoo pint is young it can look a bit like sorrel, and you want to avoid cockoo pint.

Sorrel is one of my favorites, probably because I have an endless wild source. In some recent magazine (I have forgotten which) I came across a recipe by Jamie Oliver for sorrel risotto. I wasn't convinced that it would turn out that well, but tried it anyway, and it was fantasic. The sorrel was briefly cooked in butter first (you need quite a lot of sorrel as it wilts down) and a tad of nutmeg added. This was then added to a standard risotto base near the end of cooking. I would make it again. I think that sorrel is yet another one of those native plants that is underrated in this country.
Fee

I've got a little patch in a pot in my garden it's so good, worth having in the herb garden if you don't have any wild, IMO. Sorry, can't really help with more identification that gil I'm afraid.
sally_in_wales

definately scratch n sniff then taste Very Happy You can't mistake it when you do taste it
Thomas8

Not particularly good information im afraid and very ambiguous. So to clarify for you. There are a variety of different wild sorrel as well as a number of domesticated varieties .]
Lambs sorrel
Sheeps sorrel
yellow sorrel
pink sorrel
wood sorrel


The photo shows lambs sorrel this was growing out of a limestone wall in Pembrokeshire where it is very common.
Sheeps sorrel has a more rounded leaf but the same spear shape.
Wood,yellow and pink have heart shaped leaves in threes, as opposed to clover
jamanda

Look at the base of the leaves - they have a quite distinctive shape with points going backwards on either side of the stem. Look at the picture above to see what I mean.
Treacodactyl

PeteS wrote:
However, when cuckoo pint is young it can look a bit like sorrel, and you want to avoid cockoo pint.


Yes, cuckoo pint, Arum maculatum, has pointed, arrow-shaped leaves and can vary in colour a fair bit. Just reading a description you could confuse it with some sorrels and I know people have done.

We grow common sorrel, Rumex acetosa, in the garden and that's helped me greatly in identifying it and it's a very useful plant to have at this time of year. If you can wait until it flowers that also helps narrow it down.
cab

Jamanda wrote:
Look at the base of the leaves - they have a quite distinctive shape with points going backwards on either side of the stem. Look at the picture above to see what I mean.


That leaf is most distinctive when you know it, but I've lost count of how many times I've been handed an Arum leaf and asked whether its sorrel.
Thomas8

I really cannot see the slightest resemblance to Arum, if you are getting confused with sorrel i suggest you do more book and field work with a professional. For a start it grows in different habitats.
Know your ID before picking. The two lamb & sheep sorrel are strictly grass land species.
Wood sorrel grows predominately under Norway Spruce.
Yellow and pink sorrel grow in gardens and by the sea.
Azura Skye

THAT'S sorrel!? hmm I wonder if that's whats growing next to my pond.
does it like wet areas?
I thought it would look like wood sorrel so that's very different.
Treacodactyl

Thomas8 wrote:
I really cannot see the slightest resemblance to Arum, if you are getting confused with sorrel i suggest you do more book and field work with a professional. For a start it grows in different habitats.


When you know the differences they do look quite different but that doesn't stop people confusing them. I've seen them grow side by side, Arum seems to often grow in grass despite books saying it's a woodland plant, in fact my next door neighbour has one in the middle of his lawn.

Edit to add:

I've not heard of Lambs Sorrel, do you have the Latin name at all?
cab

Thomas8 wrote:
I really cannot see the slightest resemblance to Arum



I entirely agree that they're very different, but thats very easy to say when you know what you're doing, and to the uninitiated its a common enough mistake.

Quote:
, if you are getting confused with sorrel i suggest you do more book and field work with a professional. For a start it grows in different habitats.
Know your ID before picking. The two lamb & sheep sorrel are strictly grass land species.
Wood sorrel grows predominately under Norway Spruce.
Yellow and pink sorrel grow in gardens and by the sea.


I've often had common sorrel from the most surprising spots. Used to grow in profusion on the old railway line here, and its so thick on the banks of some hedgerows in the West country that you can barely miss it.

And I used to get all the wood sorrel I could eat from under mostly broadleaved leaves in Lancaster. I'm not sure about the Norway Spruce point, I've found it under a pretty broad rangeof trees.

I know sheeps sorrel; whats lambs sorrel?
ninat

It was our pigs which identified sorrel for us. We let them into a new paddock and they were going mad on this patch of greenery,so I figured if it was tasty for them it would be tasty for me! Very Happy
Motyka

Arum Maculatum and common sorrel grow in slightly differing habitats - with sorrel pefering free-draining, iron-rich, acidic soil in my experience, especially road-sides, parkland, moorland, grassy areas. Arums prefer moisture-retentive soil (esp. clay) with some shade eg under hedges, along woodland edges etc. on barer soil, and seems to dislike competing with more invasive species and grasses.
Although both plants possess arrow-shaped leaves, arum leaves are larger, broader, glossier green in colour and typically blotched. They are also fewer, whereas sorrel plants eventually produce small hummocks of dock-like leaves. At this time of year,arums will also produce tall hood-like spathes containing the reproductive organs, whereas sorrel flowers are produced from high to late summer, are insignificant and carried on tall reed-like stems. I hope this helps!
Cathryn

Wood sorrel grows all over the woodlands here and very few are Norway spruce, can't think of any at the moment in fact. The wood sorrel is in flower at the moment and looks lovely.
cab

Thomas8 wrote:

Know your ID before picking. The two lamb & sheep sorrel are strictly grass land species.


I've been looking for lambs sorrel. Still can't find it. A googling brings up forum posts mentioning it but nowt else:

http://tinyurl.com/c3tl2z

Are you sure about this species? I wonder if you're picking something else instead.
PeteS

Here is a picture of some sorrel from last month. It's in the front of the basket with (left to right) chives, three cornered leak and a bit of wild garlic. The mushroom are Oyster mushrooms. The only other type of sorrel that I have seen and pick is wood sorrel.

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