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Yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta) proves that not all dainty flowers in the garden are darlings. Also known as sour grass, juicy fruit or pickle plant, yellow wood sorrel is a quickly spreading weed that can impact sports and residential turf, commercial and residential planting beds and home vegetable gardens. It’s also a pest plant in commercial greenhouses and nurseries where, if it finds its way into plant pots, could end up in your own garden.
Yellow wood sorrel is also found occurring naturally along semi-shady roadsides and hiking trials.A native to eastern North America and also parts of Asia, Oxalis stricta is mostly an annual plant but can be a perennial in mild climates. You can find it across most of the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, but interestingly it is not found in large numbers in the southern hemisphere.
Yellow wood sorrel certainly is one of the most invasive plants you could have pop up in your home landscape and should be removed when first spotted in your yard. Here, our weed expert describes the plant for proper identification and explains how to keep it from overtaking your beds and borders.How to identify yellow wood sorrel(Image credit: Getty Images/Ava-Leigh)‘Oxalis stricta is a low growing herbaceous plant with multiple stems per plant,’ says Dr.
Andrew Senesac, weed science specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Riverhead, New York. ‘During spring and early summer, its bright yellow solitary flowers are very noticeable.’Andrew says the leaves look like those on clover plants but with two major exceptions.
‘Each of the three leaflets are indented in the middle and look like tiny, stylized hearts,’ he explains. ‘Also, Oxalis leaves are light green and do not have the faint white halo that the darker green clover leaves have.’ And just like clovers, Andrew says, these leaflets fold in the middle and droop as the sun sets.
You’ll find yellow wood sorrel thriving in shady to semi-shady locations, but Andrew says it does just fine in full sun. ‘During the heat and stress of the summer, it tends to wither and disappear until the cooler days of the fall arrive,’ he adds.Its seed dispersal mechanism is the reason for its successful spread.
‘Once the seed pods begin to ripen, they’ll turn from green to brown,’ Andrew explains. ‘The 50 or so seeds within each pod will be explosively dehisced (released from the pod) and can be thrown more that 13 feet from the mother plant.’The next time you see a brown pod, hold it between your fingers and gently squeeze.
You’ll feel the pod move like a spring as the seeds are released into your fingers. With a dispersal like that, no wonder yellow wood sorrel so easily spreads through gardens and lawns.How to remove yellow wood sorrel(Image credit: Getty Images/Chitro Stock)For home gardeners, the most effective way of removing yellow wood sorrel is manually.
‘In home gardens and yards, continued vigilance in hand weeding any plants before they shed seed will be fairly effective in keeping this weed at bay,’ Andrew says.‘When it appears in a large mass or not among other desirable plants, it’s easily hand removed because the roots are so shallow and weak,’ he explains. ‘When it’s growing among other plants, a small dinner fork can be used to twist around the stems and yank out individual plants.
’ Find the garden tool that will do the job among the tool assortment offered at Walmart.Making sure yellow wood sorrel doesn’t gain a foothold in the garden in the first place is a great strategy and is best done by mulching. ‘Other than manually removing, replenishing mulch in the spring and again in the late summer will allow you to remove existing plants, and the new mulch will be effective in preventing new germination.
’If planting a garden from scratch, use cardboard for weed control, or place a heavy-duty biodegradable weed fabric, available from Amazon, over the new garden to prevent weeds from germinating.(Image credit: Getty Images/Sanjiv Shukla)FAQsIs yellow wood sorrel edible? ‘Yes, it’s edible and tasty in a tangy way,’ Andrew says. ‘It has an ability to quench thirst in the absence of water, giving rise to one of its common names ‘juicy fruit’.
Oxalis stricta does contain oxalic acid, however, and should not be consumed in any great quantities for health reasons.’If you like the look of yellow wood sorrel but don’t want a weed running rampant in your yard, use clover as your lawn. You’d be surprised at all the benefits of growing clover, the best of which just might be its ability to increase biodiversity in your landscape.
Or, grow yellow wood sorrel’s close cousin false shamrock (Oxalis triangularis), which are available at Walmart, to bring that look indoors as a houseplant..
