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 | Sorrel (Sheeps) Other Names: Field Sorrel.
Botanical Name: Rumex acetosella
Family: |
Description: |
Sheep's Sorrel is much smaller than either French or Garden Sorrel, and is often tinged, especially towards the end of the summer, a deep red hue. It is a slender plant, the stems from 3 to 4 inches to nearly a foot high, often many and tufted, decumbent at the base. The leaves, 1/2 to 2 inches in length, have long petioles and are variable in breadth, mostly narrow-lanceolate, the lower ones hastate and the lobes of the base usually spreading and often divided.
It grows in pastures and dry gravelly places in most parts of the globe, except the tropics, penetrating into Arctic and Alpine regions, and is abundant in Britain, where it is sometimes called Field Sorrel.
Like the other Sorrels, it is highly acid, though is less active in its properties than the French or Garden species. |
Medicinal Usage: |
| The whole herb is employed medicinally, in the fresh state. The action is diuretic, refrigerant and diaphoretic, and the juice extracted from the fresh plant is of use in urinary and kidney diseases. |
Ancient Lore: |
SORREL (Sheep's) RUMEX AGETOSELLA
Of greal use against the scurvy if eaten in spring as salad.
An annual, also known as Field Sorrel, growing to about a foot (30 cm) high. It has narrow sharp-pointed leaves and spikes of green flowers turning to red.
Where to find it: Dry soils and pastures in most parts of the world.
Flowering time: Late spring.
Astrology.. A plant of Venus.
Medicinal virtues: The leaves are cooling, allaying thirst and repressing bile. It is used as a cordial in fevers and to resist putrefaction. May be eaten in salad to prevent scurvy. The juice is frequently taken with other anti- scorbuticjuices.
Modern uses: The leaves are used for their diuretic property. They may be eaten or given as an infusion - i oz (28 g) to i pt (568 mi) of boiling water - in doses Of 2 fl OZ (56 ml). Useful in fevers when it will also induce perspiration. The juice acts as a tonic to the kidneys and urinary tract, and is taken in doses of half to one teaspoonful. |
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