PLATE 45. 



SHEEP SORREL, Rumex Acetosella, L. 

 Other English names : Sour-grass, Field Sorrel, Red Soriei.. 



Introduced. Perennial, very persistent by extensively spreading yel- 

 low flesliy rootstocks. Stems slender, G to 18 inclies, erect or asceuding,i 

 branched above. Leaves with silvery 2-parted stipules at the base, narrow- 

 ly arrow-head-shaped, entire, 1 to 4 inches long, quite smooth and rather 

 fleshy, on long petioles. Flowers inimerous in panicled racemes, of two 

 kinds on separate plants : the male or anther-bearing flowers have conspicu- 

 ous anthers; the female or pistillate flowers are much less showy and are tip- 

 ped with three tiny crimson feathery stigmas. Seeds (achenes) [Plate 54, 

 fig. 38 — natural size and enlarged 8 times], as they occur among clover and 

 grass seeds, generally covered by the three larger conspicuously veined calyx 

 segments, which fit closely over the seed. The three small segments which 

 alternate with these, fit over the arigles of the achene outside the edges of the 

 larger segments. The achene itself when the calyx segments are removed 

 is oV, of an inch long and nearly as broad, triangular-ovate, pale brown, 

 shining. 



Time of Flowering: May to August; seeds ripe July to September. 



Propagation : By seeds and shallow running rootstocks. 



Occurrence : Naturalized in all parts of the country. 



Injury: The seeds are one of the most abundant impurities in clover 

 and grass seeds. The plants increase rapidly in thin or worn-out meadows 

 and in pastures, both on uplands and in hay marches — crowding out the 

 grass and much reducing the crop. Sheep SoiTel is also a troublesome weed 

 in gardens. 



Remedy/: In upland pastures a top-dressing of lime is said fo be very 

 beneficial. Where land can be plnu.shed the sod should be m mured and 

 ploughed down and the land re-seeded. In gardens, constant shallow cul- 

 tivation is necessary. 



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