Yellow Wood Sorrel; Lady’s Sorrel (Oxalis corniculata) is not a woodland plant but is very common along roadsides, in gardens, dooryards, and fields. The pale-green, slender stem is quite erect, branches but little, if at all, and grows from three to twelve inches tall. The leaves are long-stemmed and trifoliate, the three leaflets being broadly heart-shaped. They are very sensitive and close if roughly handled.
The leaves have very acid and sour juices, similar in taste to those of the common Red Sorrel that, by the way, belong to an entirely different family (Buckwheat). Country school children often chew the leaves of both of these, as the sour taste has an agreeable twang.
The bright golden-yellow flowers are quite fragrant; they open only in the sunshine and close tightly at night. They grow in few-flowered umbels at the end of the stem on slender peduncles from the axils of some of the leaves. After their flowering season little erect, pointed pods take the place of the flowers. This species is a very common herb or weed throughout our range.
(A) Wild Geranium; Cranesbill (Geranium masculatum) is one of our most common woodland plants, flowering from May to July. The stem, the leaves, and the flower calyx are rough-hairy, the former being quite stout and branching and attaining heights of 1 to 2 feet. The large magenta or pale-purple flowers are in loose, few-flowered clusters at the ends of the branches; the petals are large and rounded and slightly overlap.
The leaves of the Geranium are very coarse and fuzzy, and the surface is often spotted with white or brown; they are palmately divided into five lobes, each of which is sharply toothed and pointed. It is very common from Me. to Manitoba and southward.
(B) Herb Robert (Geranium Robertianum) is a smaller edition of the last. Its flowers are similar, but smaller and coarser in texture. Its leaves are smaller and usually more deeply cleft. The stem is usually stained with red; both this and the leaves emit a strong odor when bruised.
Herb Robert is common from Me. to Minn. and southward.
