Wood-sorrel - Oxalis acetosella

Description

Low, creeping, slightly hairy plant with slender rhizomes. Leaves scattered, leaflets heart shaped. Flowers white or pale lilac, with lilac or purplish veins, solitary, bell shaped, half nodding. Petals 8 to 15 mm followed later by petalless self pollinating flowers.

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Photograph of the plant in habitat (RPR)

Habitat

Woods and shaded places, usually on humus rich soil.

When to see it

April to June.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Widespread and fairly frequent throughout Britain, except in parts of eastern England.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland and where found, can be quite common.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 92 of the 617 tetrads.

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) because of its threat-level

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Wood-sorrel
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Oxalidales
Family:
Oxalidaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
104
First record:
25/04/2007 (Dave Wood)
Last record:
04/05/2024 (Nicholls, David)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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