wood sorrel

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any herb of the genus Oxalis, especially woodland species with sour sap, compound leaves, and five-petaled white, pink, purple, or yellow flowers

   Pink wood sorrel flowered among the grasses at the beginning of spring.

From Middle English wood sorrel, a compound distinguishing the woodland herb from true sorrels of the genus Rumex. Sorrel came through Anglo-French surele, a diminutive of sur, 'sour,' referring to the sharp taste produced by oxalic acid in the leaves.

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