528 RUMEX. [CI-ASS VI. ORDER III. 



English Botany, t. 127!'— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 196 ?— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 173. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 211 ? 



Root long, slender, tapering, and with branched fibres. Stem erect, 

 from one to two feet high, somewhat angled, furrowed, smooth, simple, 

 green, with alternate leaves, and a terminal simple panicle. Leaves 

 oblong, acutely pointed, arrow-shaped, with four lobes at the base, the 

 two lower ones acute, curved inwards, the two upper smaller, acumi- 

 nated, the margins entire or waved, and more or less crisped, the lower 

 and radical leaves on channeled footstalks, the upper sessile, each 

 having at its base a pair of lanceolate cut thin membranous stipules^ 

 the whole plant quite smooth, or clothed at the base of the stem, the 

 petioles and under side of the leaves with short close down. Flowers 

 in rather distant small whorls, without any accompanying leaves, on 

 short slender recurved j?ec?i«icZes. The barren Jlowers bearing stamens 

 only on separate plants, of a greenish red colour, the perianth of six 

 nearly equal roundish ovate pieces, membranous, remaining unchanged^ 

 the stamens ovate oblong, two-celled, on short filaments. The fertile 

 Jlowers bearing the styles mostly of a deeper red colour, the perianth 

 of six pieces, the three outer ones small, becoming closely reflexed upon 

 the short slender peduncles, the three inner becoming much enlarged 

 into a roundish heart-shape, entire, or somewhat waved on the margin, 

 thin, membranous, with a mid-rib and numerous netted veins, the base 

 in all the specimens we have seen is never enlarged into a tubercle. 

 Nuts broadly ovate, acutely pointed at each end, and acutely three- 

 angled, shining, dark brown, almost black. 



Habitat. — Meadows and pastures; frequent. 



Perennial; flowering in June and July. 



This, the common Sorrel or "green sauce," contains a pleasant degree 

 of acidity in its leaves, on account of which it is cultivated for the 

 making of sauces, and entering into the composition of sallads ; but it 

 is not now so much used as formerly, though it is more esteemed on 

 the Continent than with us. It is thought to be a useful refrigerent 

 and antiscorbutic, and taken with advantage in some diseases of the 

 skin. 



14. i?. Acetosel'la, Linn. (Fig. 605.) Sheep's Sorrel. Enlarged 

 pieces of the perianth ovate, heart-shaped, membranous, entire, the 

 outer pieces erect, close pressed ; leaves lanceolate, spear-shaped, entire. 



English Botany, t. 1674. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 197. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 173. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 211. 



Root slender, tapering, simple or branched, and fibrous. Stem 

 from four to twelve inches high, solitary or several, erect, or fre- 

 quently curved at the base, slender, angular, furrowed, simple or 

 branched, mostly zigzag, smooth, green. Leaves alternate, the radical 

 ones frequently numerous, on channeled footstalks, varying from ovate- 

 lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, having on each side at the base a narrow 

 acute spreading lobe, the upper leaves with shorter footstalks, or sessile, 



