Oxalis:Another Wild Edible Right Outside the Door

I've always liked these little plants. Big ones, with purple flowers are growing by the front door; tiny ones with yellow flowers all over the garden. They pop up in early spring around St. Patrick's Day - like little shamrocks.

Now I know you can eat them!  They are also called Wood Sorrel and taste very lemony - like the French Sorrel growing in the garden. Funny how often I have thrown the pesky things in the compost (their little roots are hard to get at sometimes) while praising and watering the domesticated sorrel.  No more. They are delicious and beautiful - and plentiful in early spring. And they help make a very pretty salad.

 

Comments

[becky]

are the flowers edible or just the leaves? i too have them growing prolifically around the garden- i've always been reluctant to call them weeds as they seem so delicately pretty. i have tons of the purple clustering variety and some of the yellow spreading creeper sort.

[Kelli]

Yes! Flowers, bulbs, leaves and stems of the oxalis plant are edible. They should be eaten in moderation though, as a garnish on a salad for instance. While they're a nice source of vitamin C, they are also high in oxalic acid which can "bind" with other nutrients rendering them unuseable. Here's some more info on oxalis: http://www.kingdomplantae.net/yellowWoodSorrel.php