Flower:

Single flower, often nodding, at the tip of a slender stalk that rises slightly above the leaves. Flowers are ½ to ¾ inch across, with 5 oblong-elliptic petals slightly notched at the tip, white to pale pink with darker pink veins and a spot of yellow at the base of each petal. In the center are 10 white stamens and 5 slender white styles longer than the stamens.

Behind the flower, alternating with the petals, are 5 narrowly lance-oblong sepals ¼ to 1/3 as long as the petals. Petal-less, self-fertile (cleistogamous) flowers are produced late in the season on drooping stalks.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are basal, clover-like, ½ to ¾ inch across with three heart-shaped leaflets, wider than long, often folding down, sparsely covered with appressed brown hairs, the slender leaf stalks shorter than the flower stalks, and attached to a scaly, creeping, underground stem (rhizome).

The flowering stem is 2 to 5½ inches long, hairy near the flower and more sparsely so below, often reddish towards the base, jointed just above the middle with two scale-like attendant bracts.

Fruit:

Fruit is an erect, rounded capsule, somewhat flattened with five sections, each containing 1 or 2 seeds.

Notes:

Common Wood Sorrel is the least well known of our four native sorrel species. A shy delicate flower most often hidden away in cool woods and swamps in the Arrowhead, it can form large creeping colonies, spreading in and around a large area. One population we encountered however was in semi-open sandy pines at a popular wayside rest. It is easily identified by the hairy, clover-like leaves and distinctive pink and white striped flowers. The name of this species has switched back and forth between Oxalis acetosella and Oxalis montana; the latter is currently accepted.