Everlasting Gardener

  Joanie Lapic Herb Specialist
 

Sheep Sorrel
Rumex acetosella

Common names for Sheep Sorrel are: field sorrel, red top sorrel, sour grass and dog-eared sorrel, not to be confused with Garden Sorrel (Rumex acetosa). It grows wild throughout most of the earth. It likes to grow in open fields, rocky areas and by the sides of country roads, and is considered to be a weed throughout the U.S. It does not need moist soil to grow well, and it’s an indicator of acid soil.The Sheep Sorrel plant can be harvested in whole or in part, to be used as an ingredient in Essiac tea. If you pick only the above-ground parts, the roots will send up more harvest-able parts. To harvest, cut off the above-ground parts in the spring, summer and fall, only on a sunny day after the dew has dried from the plants. When using the roots, pull them up in the fall, when the plant’s energy is con-centrated in the leaf. When completely dry, store in an air-tight container, but only for a year, as the potency substantially diminishes when it’s older than a year.

USES~ Culinary and Medicinal Long ago, the young leaves were picked as pot herbs. The Herbalist Culpepper extolled Sheep Sorrel and all other herbs in the dock family as “exceeding strengthening to the liver” (“The English Physician Enlarged” 1653). The leaves of young Sheep Sorrel plants were popular as a cooking dressing and addition to salads in France several hundred years ago. North American Indians use the leaves as a savory seasoning for meat dishes and bake it into their bread.Contains oxalates, similar to those found in spinach and rhubarb, which are poisonous in excess, especially for those with a tendency toward rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones and hyperacidity.

 Medicinal Sheep Sorrel has been a folk remedy for cancer both in Europe and in America for centuries. It has been observed by researchers to break down tumors, and to alleviate some chronic conditions and degenerative diseases. It is the primary healing herb in Essiac tea. It contains high amounts of vitamin A and B-complex, C, D, E, K, P and vitamin U. It is also rich in minerals, including calcium, chlorine, iron, magnesium, silicon, sodium, sulfur, and has trace amounts of copper, iodine, manganese and zinc. The combination of these vitamins and minerals nourishes all the glands of the body. It also contains carotenoids and chlorophyll, citric, malic, oxalic, tannic and tartaric acids. The chlorophyll carries oxygen throughout the bloodstream. Cancer cells do not live in the presence of oxygen. It also: reduces the damage of radiation burns, increases resistance to X-rays, improves the vascular system, heart function, intestines, and lungs, aids in the removal of foreign deposits from the walls of the blood vessels, purifies the liver and stimulates the growth of new tissue, reduces inflammation of the pancreas, stimulates the growth of new tissue, and raises the oxygen level of the tissue cells.

(some information obtained from “Encyclopedia of Herbs” by Deni Brown, and from “The Essiac Handbook” by James Percival. IF YOU NEED THIS BOOKLET, JOANIE HAS COPIES.)


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