Oxalis oregana
Nutt.
Redwood sorrel, Oregon oxalis
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What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves, Stalks
The leaves and stems are edible raw or cooked, with an acid flavour that children especially enjoy, making them an excellent addition to mixed salads. They can be harvested year round. A mass of leaves and stems allowed to ferment slightly makes a tasty dessert. A sort of rhubarb pie can be made from the leaf stalks, though the stalks are very thin, so a large quantity would be needed. Use in moderation. Flowers are edible raw and have a pleasant acid flavour.
Known Hazards
Where to Find It
It is a warm temperate plant. It suits hardiness zones 7-10.
Australia, Canada, North America, USA,
How to Identify
A creeping herb which keeps growing from year to year. It grows 18-20 cm high and spreads 100 cm wide. The leaves have 3 leaflets. They are mid-green. The flowers are pink. They can be lilac or white.
How to Grow
Easily grown in a moisture-retentive humus-rich soil in shade or dappled sunlight. Succeeds in dense shade. Grows well in a wild or woodland garden. Plants can be very invasive when in suitable conditions. Plant is growing very vigorously in quite dense shade under an Elaeagnus shrub in Cornwall - it stays green all year round and is fairly productive.
Propagation: Seed is best sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame. Prick out seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle and plant out in late spring or early summer. For division in spring, larger divisions can go directly into their permanent positions. Smaller divisions are better potted up and grown on in light shade in a cold frame until well established before planting out in late spring or early summer.
Medicinal Uses
A decoction of the whole plant can be used as a wash to treat rheumatism. The fresh plant juice has been used as eye drops to ease sore eyes. Wilted leaves made into a poultice serve as a dressing on boils, sores, and swollen areas of skin.
Other Uses
Makes a good ground cover plant for a woodland garden, though it can become invasive and may require weeding for the first year or so.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Oxalis oregana, known as redwood sorrel or Oregon oxalis, is a species of the wood sorrel family, Oxalidaceae, in the genus Oxalis native to moist Douglas-fir and coast redwood forests of western North America from southwestern British Columbia to Washington, Oregon, and northern California. The species is now recognized as distinct from Oxalis smalliana, with which it was previously conflated.
Notes
There are about 500 Oxalis species.
Names & Synonyms
References (7)
- Cundall, P., (ed.), 2004, Gardening Australia: flora: the gardener's bible. ABC Books. p 966
- Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 165
- Jackes, D. A., Edible Forest Gardens
- Kermath, B. M., et al, 2014, Food Plants in the Americas: A survey of the domesticated, cultivated and wild plants used for Human food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. On line draft. p 597
- Kuhnlein, H. V. et al, 2009, Indigenous Peoples' food systems. FAO Rome
- Moerman, D. F., 2010, Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press. p 373
- Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
