OXALIS – RICE SOAP

Sorrel, also known as Indian sorrel is a creeping leafy green that is a delicate, herbaceous and low-growing plant about the height of 30 cm. Sorrel goes by the botanical name Oxalis corniculata and belongs to the Oxalidaceae family and the plant resembles quite a lot like the common yellow wood sorrel, i.e. Oxalis stricta.

The plant is usually found growing in gardens, lawns, grassland, agricultural fields, and plant nurseries. The plants are found thriving in the temperate and subtropical regions across Asia, Europe and North America. In Asia it is found in India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Taiwan and Japan. And in India, it is mostly found in open gardens, grasslands, riversides, mountains, and along the roadsides.

The plant has smooth, palmately compound leaves that are divided into three heart-shaped leaflets, which are bright green on the upper surface, and purplish to dark red on their under surface. One unique characteristic feature of the plant is that it folds up the leaves at night or during stress and opens them in the morning. Sorrel has yellow coloured five-petalled flowers that usually blooms from May to October. The flowers give rise to capsulate fruits that are hairy, tomentose, and sub cylindric. Seeds are usually long, rough, egg-shaped, and dark purplish-brown in colour. On ripening, the capsule bursts open to spread the seeds everywhere in the garden giving rise to more creeping sorrel herbs.

Though the plant is considered a weed in different parts of the world, yet it is traditionally used in alternative medicines and are extensively used for treating various diseases and health anomalies.