Sorrel Look a Likes

[Bodhi]

Hi folks
Last year, fresh with my rather stupid belief I could identify a few plants after some instruction, I found what I believed was common sorrel in my garden.
I bit into a leaf and it just tasted planty. It wasn't sorrel and I was quite worried about what it was. It wasn't L&L either. So after much frustrated scroogling I have still to identify this plant. It has the general sorrel shape, with the pointy bits at the bottom, but it is darker than the sorrel I tasted originally (the pics of sorrel always look quite light green) and doesn't have a groove up the middle (which one site said it would, although I can't recall that from my original instruction).
Any ideas folks?
Cheers and hope you are all enjoying the great weather
Rich

 

[Bluefrog]

could you get a picture up, also L&L is darker but it will irritate your mouth if you eat it. maybe dock? but not if it had the points.... hmm i don't know, a picture would be best

 

[British Red]

I do hope it didn't look like this?


Black Bryony by British Red, on Flickr

 

[Bluefrog]

field bindweed?

 

[Bodhi]

Sorry all for not replying. I must not have set up alerts and promptly forgot this thread- I wasnt dead!
I had a friend look at it and he said it was sorrell....it certainly didnt look like bryony or bindweed. It just didnt have the sorrell taste....
Cheers and all the best
Rich

 

[woodymellor]

Hello,

After finding what I thought was sorrel, I took a small nip at it and discovered a slight apple peel flavour initially, but a very peppery after taste. I now think it is bindweed as pictured in this thread (although with much narrower arrow shaped leaves). Is it edible? I'm assuming it isn't since none of my field guides list it. I really wish these books would list similar looking plants!

Thanks,

Woody.

 

[Bodhi]

Hi Woody

The apple peel taste is one of sorrell's identifiers- due to the oxalic acid I believe.

Hedge bindweed has edible leaves according to pfaf but field bindweed they are unsure of which parts old texts refer to.
I have found other sources too that suggest, at least certain types, are edible.

I think plant identification is one of the areas where you'll always have problems with pictures/photos because you need to get your eye in over time. I have noticed that my skill in noticing things (in general) has been upped tremendously since I have had to keep making efforts to identify things.

You actually do see more eventually. My intial problem with sorrell was that (like trees and anything) all plants dont exactly resemble the books. I have now identified common sorrell that depending on age, location and other factors looks quite different from other examples. This was really annoying to start with but now I see it as a good thing and the amount of time I have had to spend on just looking and checking is paying dividends in everythign from tracking to wood selection (you just get more aware and more perceptive in general). Therefore my advice is appreciate the effort that it takes- the blind alleys, the triple checking, the pic taking and comparisons etc etc (and all the many times you should be avoiding eating things because you arent 100% sure). Eventually you will see it was better than it coming easy from a guidebook.

The other thing you can do which I highly recommend is follow a plant through the year. For example I have sorrell flowering now (that is very distinct and easy)...now watch that same plant each week through the year...watch the ground leaves coming through, then as the stalk rises there are leaves there too etc etc...really get to know each plant.

Anyway hope my rambling makes at least some sense

All the best

Rich

 

[woodymellor]

Many thanks for the helpful reply, it's very encouraging. I think I may need to get a good book on weeds or wild flowers, since I keep running into the same problem which is - when I need to identify a plant, it will only be in my wild food books if it is edible, and even then may not have made the shortlist for the book.

it has occured to me before to try and cultivate some of the plants in pots in my home so I can observe them over time, however I decided against it since I want to know what they look like in the wild.

But I'll keep at it, and keep taking walk whatever the weather!

 

[Bodhi]

Hi Woody

DK Pocket Nature series is good. However, my Larousse Pocket Guide to Trees has a very useful flow chart at the front (which I missed until recently) and if their other books have anything similar I can see them being a real boon to identification.

Having a book or three is good help, with the caveats from my previous post of course.

Sorrell grows naturally on disturbed areas- so I have quite a lot of both common and sheep sorrell on my garden pathways. In fact just a small piece of garden (unmowed) has sorrell, plantain, dandelion, dock, daisy and other edibles for year round watching.

But, yeah, keep at it and have fun mate

All the best

Rich