Yellow wood-sorrel

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Yellow wood-sorrel

Yellow wood-sorrel leaf

Yellow wood-sorrel

Yellow wood-sorrel flower

Yellow wood-sorrel habit

Morphology

Stem

Prostrate to erect, usually unbranched or with few branches, with spreading, partitioned hairs and appressed, non-partitioned hairs.

Leaves

Basal and cauline, alternate; stipules usually absent, sometimes present and small; petiole with spreading, partitioned hairs and appressed, non-partitioned hairs; blades palmately 3-foliolate; leaflets obcordate, 1/3 to 1 inch long, 3/5 to 1 1/5 inch wide, margins entire.

Inflorescence

Cymes, (3-)5-7(-15)-flowered; peduncles 1 to 4 inches long. Pedicels spreading to ascending in fruit.

Flower

Sepals 5, persistent in fruit, lanceolate or oblong, 1/8 to 1/6 inch, glabrous with few appressed, non-partitioned hairs proximally, tips green; petals 5, yellow, 1/4 to 2/5 inch, slightly connate at bases; stamens 10, 5 short alternating with 5 long; styles 5; stigmas 5.

Fruit

Capsules, erect or spreading, columnar, 1/3 to 3/5 inch, nearly bald or sparsely shaggy with partitioned hairs, apex abruptly tapered; seeds brown, transversely ridged, ridges brown, rarely white.

Ecology

Habitat

Open woods, flood plains, stream banks, prairie ravines, pastures, lawns, gardens, and waste places.

Distribution

East 2/3 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

The Iroquois took an infusion of the plant for fever, cramps, and nausea and the Kiowa chewed the leaves to relieve thirst.

Additional Notes