Yellow wood sorrel

Yellow wood sorrel can be found throughout campus.

Description

Yellow wood sorrel stands three to fifteen inches high, with an erect stem and flowers a quarter to half an inch wide.  Yellow wood sorrel is a common weed.  It has three leaflets that are notched at the tip.  It is visible from spring to fall.   The leaves contain oxalic acid and are sour to the taste (Newcomb 1977).

History

Wood sorrel was once used to treat cancer (Erichsen-Brown 1979).   Oxalis species have been used orally for liver and digestive disorders (NMCD 2000).

Leaves of Oxalis species have been eaten as a vegetable (Kiple 2000).    American Indians ate wood sorrel, and the leaves were used as a treatment for scurvy (Erichsen-Brown 1979). As scurvy is caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, found in most green plants, this treatment should have been effective.  (SeeAdverse Effects). The Meskwaki boiled the whole plant to obtain an orange dye (Erichsen-Brown 1979).

Current Medicinal Uses

Wood sorrel is not commonly used as a medicinal herb.

Adverse Effects

Wood sorrel contains 0.3 to 1.25% oxalic acid (NMCD 2000).  Oxalic acid combines with calcium forming calcium oxalate in the gastrointestinal tract or the urinary tract in the bloodstream.  This may damage the kidneys, leading acute kidney failure.  Oxalates have no therapeutic use (McGuffin 1997).

References

Erichsen-Brown C. Medicinal and Other Uses of North American Plants: A Historical Survey with Special Reference to the Eastern Indian Tribes. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1979

Kiple KF, Ornelas KC, ed. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.

McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A, ed. American Herbal Products Association’s Botanical Safety Handbook. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, 1997.

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. Therapeutic Research Faculty, Stockton, 2000.

Newcomb L. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1977.

Disclaimer 

Information on this website is for educational purposes only. Many herbs historically used for medicine are considered too toxic to use today; some of these herbs have caused deaths. Do not ingest these herbs based on information on this website. We have not provided sufficient information for the safe medicinal use of any of these herbs, nor sufficient information for treatment of poisoning. All recreational use of these herbs is dangerous.