WildBristol.uk - Discovering Wildlife in Bristol

Stace 4:

Rumex acetosella L. (Acetosella vulgaris (W.D.J. Koch) Fourr.) - Sheep's Sorrel.

Stems procumbent to erect, to 30cm; leaves linear to oblong-lanceolate, with narrow, laterally or forward-directed basal lobes; achene 1-1.5mm; 2n=28, 42. Native; heathy open ground, short grassland and cultivated land, mostly on acid sandy soils; throughout British Isles. Distribution of the 2 subspecies in Britain has not been worked out, but ssp. pyrenaicus is probably mainly in South and absent from North. Extent of overlap is unknown; both occur in Central England and probably intermediates exist, as in areas of overlap in Central Europe.

Key:

• Upper leaves sessile, mostly distinctly longer than wide

• Upper leaves not clasping stem; basal lobes mostly pointed laterally or more or less forward (hastate); tepals not or scarcely longer than achene