Taxon: Rumex acetosella L.

A declared aquatic or terrestrial noxious weed and/or noxious-weed seed in these U.S. states (see state noxious weed lists), with links to state information or web documents:

AL°, CT*, FL°, GA°, IA*°, KY°, LA°, MO°, NE°, OK*°, SC°, TN°.

ªAquatic.

*Terrestrial.

°In seed.

Link to noxious weed information from

See also subordinate taxa:

• Rumex acetosella subsp. acetosella (no accessions)
• Rumex acetosella subsp. acetoselloides (no accessions)
• Rumex acetosella subsp. multifidus (no accessions)
• Rumex acetosella subsp. pyrenaicus (no accessions)

Common names:

• field sorrel   (Source: F NAmer ) – English
  
• sheep sorrel   (Source: F Ariz ) – English
  
• sheep sorrel   (Source: F BritStace ) – English   [Rumex acetosella subsp. acetosella]
  
• sheep's sorrel   (Source: BSBI ) – English
  
• sorrel   (Source: AH 505 ) – English
  
• sorrel   (Source: Noxweed Aust ) – English   [Rumex acetosella subsp. acetosella]
  
• xiao suan mo   (Source: F ChinaEng ) – Transcribed Chinese
  
• oseille   (Source: F NAmer ) – French
  
• petite oseille   (Source: F NAmer ) – French
  
• sûrette   (Source: F NAmer ) – French
  
• azeda-de-ovelha   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• azeda-miúda   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• azedinha-aleluia   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  

More:

see MMPND for additional names in foreign scripts

Economic importance:

• Medicines: folklore   (fide CRC MedHerbs ed2; Herbs Commerce ed2)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: mammals   (fide Kingsbury; Cooper & Johnson ed2)
  
• Weed: also potential seed contaminant   (fide State Noxweed Seed; Invasive Pl Spec)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Rumex acetosella from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

View phytochemical or ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Distributional range:

      Native:

• AFRICA
  Macaronesia: Portugal - Azores
  Northern Africa: Algeria; Morocco
• ASIA-TEMPERATE
  Western Asia: Iran; Lebanon; Syria; Turkey
  Caucasus: Russian Federation - Ciscaucasia, Dagestan
  Siberia: Russian Federation - Altay, Eastern Siberia, Western Siberia
  Middle Asia: Kazakhstan
  Russian Far East: Russian Federation - Far East
  China: China - Fujian, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Nei Monggol, Shandong, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan [possibly], Zhejiang
  Eastern Asia: Korea; Taiwan
• ASIA-TROPICAL
  Indian Subcontinent: India
• EUROPE
  Northern Europe: Denmark; Finland; Ireland; Norway; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; Sweden; United Kingdom
  Middle Europe: Austria; Belgium; Czechoslovakia; Germany; Hungary; Netherlands; Poland; Switzerland
  East Europe: Belarus; Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; Moldova; Russian Federation - European part; Ukraine [incl. Krym]
  Southeastern Europe: Albania; Bulgaria; Former Yugoslavia; Italy [incl. Sardinia, Sicily]; Romania
  Southwestern Europe: France [incl. Corsica]; Portugal; Spain

      Naturalized: (links to other web resources are provided for some distributions)

• naturalized in tropical & s. Africa, tropical Asia, Australia, New Zealand, United States (including Hawaii), Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Mascarenes, Melanesia, & Polynesia

References:

• Botanical Society of the British Isles. 2007. BSBI checklist. (BSBI)
• CIBA-GEIGY, Basel, Switzerland. Documenta CIBA-GEIGY (Grass weeds 1. 1980, 2. 1981; Monocot weeds 3. 1982; Dicot weeds 1. 1988) (Weed CIBA)
• Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs. (CRC MedHerbs ed2)
• FNA Editorial Committee. 1993–. Flora of North America. (F NAmer)
• Greuter, W. et al., eds. 1984–. Med-Checklist. (L Medit)
• Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. [re. Brazilian common names].
• Hara, H. et al. 1978–1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal. (L Nepal)
• Holm, L. et al. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. (Atlas WWeed)
• Kearney, T. H. & R. H. Peebles. 1969. Arizona flora, ed. 2. (F Ariz) [natzd.].
• Kitagawa, M. 1979. Neo-lineamenta florae Manshuricae. (F Manshur)
• Komarov, V. L. et al., eds. 1934–1964. Flora SSSR. (F USSR)
• Lazarides, M. & B. Hince. 1993. CSIRO Handbook of Economic Plants of Australia. (Econ Pl Aust)
• Malezasdemexico. Malezas de México - on-line resource. (Malezas Mex)
• McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. (Herbs Commerce ed2)
• Munro, D. B. Canadian poisonous plants information system - on-line resource. (Can Poison Pl)
• Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) - on-line resource. (Pl Names)
• Rønning, O. I. 1996. The flora of Svalbard. (F Svalbard)
• Seed Regulatory and Testing Branch, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S.D.A. 1999. State noxious-weed seed requirements recognized in the administration of the Federal Seed Act. (State Noxweed Seed)
• Silva, L. et al. 2005. Listagem da fauna e flora terrestres dos Açores. Lista des plantas vasculares (Pteridophyta e Spermatophyta). (L Azores)
• Terrell, E. E. et al. 1986. Agric. Handb. no. 505. (AH 505)
• Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. 1993. Flora europaea, second edition. (F Eur ed2)
• Weber, E. 2003. Invasive plant species of the world: a reference guide to environmental weeds. (Invasive Pl Spec)
• Wu Zheng-yi & P. H. Raven et al., eds. 1994–. Flora of China (English edition). (F ChinaEng)

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Rumex acetosella.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Rumex acetosella. Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Synonyms:

• Acetosella vulgaris Fourr. [= Rumex acetosella subsp. acetosella]
  
• Rumex acetosella subsp. angiocarpus auct. [= Rumex acetosella subsp. pyrenaicus]
  
• Rumex acetoselloides Balansa [≡ Rumex acetosella subsp. acetoselloides]
  
• Rumex angiocarpus auct. [= Rumex acetosella subsp. pyrenaicus]
  
• Rumex multifidus L. [≡ Rumex acetosella subsp. multifidus]
  
• Rumex pyrenaicus Pourr. ex Lapeyr. [≡ Rumex acetosella subsp. pyrenaicus]
  

Check other databases for Rumex acetosella L.:

• Flora Europaea: Database of European Plants (ESFEDS)
• Flora of North America: Collaborative Floristic Effort of North American Botanists
• Flora of China: Online version from Harvard University
• PLANTS: USDA-NRCS Database of Plants of the United States and its Territories
• TROPICOS: Nomenclatural and Specimen Database of the Missouri Botanical Garden
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.
  Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Images:

• Fruit and seed: U.S. National Seed Herbarium image
• Seeds or fruits: Seed ID Workshop image, from Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio State University

More:

• Check PlantSystematics.org for additional images
• Images Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

---

| USDA | ARS | GRIN | NPGS | New Search |

---

Cite as:
USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program.
Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database].
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?32519 (09 February 2010)

Please send us your comments

Ctrl P to print