Rumex acetosa aka Common Sorrel

Rumex acetosa, also known as sorrel, red sorrel, sheep's sorrel, field sorrel, and sour weed, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. It is native to Eurasia and the British Isles but has been introduced to most of the Northern Hemisphere. The plant has green arrowhead-shaped leaves and red-tinted deeply ridged stems and sprouts from an aggressive and spreading rhizome. It blooms from March to November, producing yellowish-green (male) or reddish (female) flowers that develop into red fruits. Sorrel is a common plant in grassland habitats and is often cultivated as a leaf vegetable or herb. Sorrel is also a super rare houseplant that is easy to grow and needs regular watering to thrive. It does best in long-lasting, direct light and should be less than 1 foot from a window. Sorrel likes soil that is well-draining and shouldn't need added fertilizers if you repot each time it doubles in size. Sorrel belongs to the Rumex genus and is native to Northern Temperate regions. However, Rumex acetosa is widely considered to be a hard-to-control noxious weed due to its spreading rhizome. Blueberry farmers are familiar with the weed because it thrives in the same conditions under which blueberries are cultivated. Attempts to eradicate R. acetosella through cultivation may be possible, but creeping rootstalks and long-lived seeds may hinder such efforts. A 3- to 4-year rotation of crops with clean cultivation, followed by a grain and/or a cover crop, and finally a return to pasture or perennial crop is effective at reducing R. acetosella infestations. Prescribed burning has been suggested for R. acetosella control, but it is unlikely to provide satisfactory control unless fires are extremely severe. Infested areas should be cultivated at regular intervals allowing for some regrowth before re-cultivation to exhaust food reserves in root fragments. As R. acetosa can be a contaminant in forage seed, it is imperative that measures are in place to prevent long-distance dispersal via that pathway. Boyd and White recommended reducing the movement of R. acetosella seeds in blueberry crops through harvesting by avoiding high-density patches or adjusting harvest times, as well as cleaning of harvest equipment and other agricultural implements. Biological control has not been attempted for R. acetosella, and neither have potential biological control agents been clearly identified. Livestock will graze on the plant, but it is not very nutritious and is toxic in large amounts because of oxalates. The American copper or small copper butterfly depends on it for food, although its larvae can consume some related plants.