Creeping Woodsorrel

Overview

Creeping woodsorrel is a cosmopolitan weed of unknown origin, although a southern European origin has been postulated. It occurs throughout South-East Asia, but is scarce in Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and Sulawesi. Both leaves and flowers are edible, with a sharp taste which gives it its name.

Vernacular Names

Creeping lady's sorrel, Creeping oxalis, Creeping sorrel, Jimson weed, Oxalis, Wood sorrel, Yellow sorrel (English), Acedera, chulco (Spanish), Semanggi gunung (Indonesia).

Agroecology

Oxalis corniculata is a common weed in gardens, fields, grassland, in roadsides, on river banks and on walls, up to 3,000 m altitude. It thrives best in warm, moist, freely drained and fertile soils with a pH of 3.5-6.5 In temperate regions, Oxalis corniculata is mainly a problem in greenhouses, but sometimes escapes to establish locally outdoor populations.

Morphology

• Root - rooting at the nodes, main root fibrous, dark brownish, thin, about 1-2 mm thick, branched, rough, soft, no odor and taste.
• Stems - creeping, sometimes ascending, frequently rooting at the nodes.
• Leaves - soft and thin heart-shaped, trifoliate, alternate, adnate stipules at the base; stipules 1.5–2 mm long, ciliate, or rarely glabrous; leaflets sessile, ± equal, obcordate, with a narrow sinus about one-third of the way down, cuneate, pilose, particularly beneath and at margins.
• Inflorescence - cymose to pseudo-umbellate, pedunculate, 1-6(-8)-flowered bracts 2-several, sub-opposite to whorled.
• Flowers - yellow-colored flowers with 5 petals; peduncles axillary, 1–8 cm long, about as long as the petioles, pubescent or glabrous, ascending; bracts 2–many, linear-lanceolate, 2–4 mm long, acute to acuminate, pilose; pedicels 7–15 mm long.
• Fruit - capsule linear-oblong, usually abruptly narrowing at apex, (4–)9–17 mm long, puberulous.
• Seeds - 1–many per locule, ovoid-ellipsoid, flattened, brown, transversely ridged.

Cultivation

• Propagation is by seed.
• Best sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame.

Chemical Constituents

• Flavanoids, trihydroxy flavon (epigenin), tannins, phytosterols, phenols, glycosides, fatty acids, alkaloids, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, and volatile oils.
• 5-hydroxy-6,7,8,4'-tetramethoxyflavone and 5,7,4'-trihydroxy-6,8-dimethoxyflavone.
• Palmitic acid, a mixture of oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and stearic acids, phytosterols, phenolic compounds, amino acids, and proteins.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• Potent antibacterial, antifungal, and insecticidal agent.
• Treat fever, thrush, sore throat, ulcers, and cough.
• Antidote.
• Anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory.
• Anti-cancer, hepatoprotective, anti-implantation, and abortifacient activity.