Sour Dock

Also known as Sorrel

Rumex Acetosa

Sour Dock


This is a stout perennial herb to three feet tall, and has long been used as a potherb in Europe. The tender sour-tasting young leaves used in mixed salads, or cooked as greens, contain large amounts of potassium oxalate. Eating quantities of raw leaves has resulted in human poisoning and loss of livestock. Leaves, if cooked after one change of water, are considered safe. Oxalate poisoning may appear within two to six hours after ingesting large amounts of the leaves. Symptoms are loss of appetite, listlessness, laboured breathing, loss of muscle control, depression, coma, and occasionally death within ten hours.