Yellow Wood Sorrel / Sour Grass

A flowering Yellow wood sorrel plant with a U.S. postage stamp for scale purposes.Family: Oxalidaceae (Wood Sorrel Family)

Genus: Oxalis | Species: europaea

Description: Low-spreading plant with clover-like, sour-tasting leaves and one to several small (1/2″) yellow flowers possessing 5 petals. The leaves are quite characteristic in that they are palmately divided into three heart-shaped leaflets that close at dusk and open in the morning. Each leaflet is 1/2-3/4″ wide. The plants can reach heights of 6-15 inches. (The leaves may be used in salads, but sparingly due to the oxalic acid content.) [perennial]

Habitat: Waste places, roadsides, fields;

In Bloom: May – October

Flowers and leaves of a yellow wood sorrel plant next to a U.S. postage stamp for scale purposes.