RUMEX ACETOSELLA subsp. ACETOSELLOIDES

Family and Genus:- See- POLYGONACEAE/Subgen. ACETOSELLA

Common Names:- Sheep's sorrel

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Rumex (L) A name used by the Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny

for sorrel.

Acetosella (L) Vinegary, slightly acid.

Acetoselloides (L) Vinegary, slightly acid.

General description:- Slender, short-lived, dioecious perennial.

Stems:-

1) 15-40 cm, solitary or few, erect, or ascending, branching at or above the middle.

Leaves:-

1) At least the lower long-petiolate, blade, 10-25 x 3-10 mm, hastate.

a) lateral lobes, simple or divided, patent.

b) central lobe, lanceolate or linear, with

c) basal lobes, 2-15 pairs.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence lax, many-flowered, less leafy than the lower stem.

2) Perianth of female flowers less than 2 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlet, 0·8-1·5 mm, obtusely trigonous, angiocarpous or gymnocarpous, the

valves, which are loosely enclosing and easily separable.

Key features:-

1) At least some leaves hastate or sagittate, with ± acute basal lobes.

2) Flowers, usually unisexual.

3) Valves, ± equalling nut.

4) Basal lobes, of leaves conspicuous, sometimes numerous.

1) Leaves with 2-15 pairs of basal lobes, patent.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Grassland, fallow fields, roadsides. 0-900(-1500) m.

Distribution:- Perhaps native to Europe, now an almost cosmopolitan weed.

Widespread throughout the Mediterranean. Rare on Crete currently know only from

the Dikti and Lefka Ori massifs and a few other isolated locations.

Flowering time:- Mar-July.

Photos by:- Marinos Gogolos