Oxalis
Wood Sorrel: Identification, Uses, and Precautions
酢浆草：识别、用途和注意事项
- Writing and photos by: - Jesse
- July 11, 2024
- https://feralforaging.com/wood-sorrel/
Wood sorrel (Oxalis), aka sourgrass, or my favorite name, “Nature’s Skittles”, is an amazing edible wild plant!
酢浆草（Oxalis），又名酸草，或者我最喜欢的名字**“大自然的小糖豆”**，是一种令人惊叹的可食用野生植物！
This is one of the best plants for beginner foragers because they are easy to find, easy to identify, and extremely common!
这是初学者采集者最好的植物之一，因为它们很容易找到，很容易识别，并且非常常见！
In this comprehensive article, I’m going to show you how to identify them, where to find them, ways to use them (some you may not have heard about), and debunk some of the myths surrounding wood sorrel “toxicity”.
在本文中，我将向您展示如何识别它们，在哪里找到它们，如何使用它们（其中一些您可能从未听说过），以及驳斥一些关于酢浆草“毒性”的误解。
What is wood sorrel? 酢浆草是什么？
Wood sorrel generally refers to a plant in the genus Oxalis. There are over 500 species in the genus, and they can all be used in similar ways. This article will focus on two main species: Common Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis stricta) and Violet Wood Sorrel (Oxalis violacea).
酢浆草通常指_Oxalis_属的植物。该属有 500 多个物种，它们都可以以类似的方式使用。本文将重点介绍两种主要物种：普通黄酢浆草(Oxalis stricta) 和紫酢浆草(Oxalis violacea)。
Other notable species include:
其他值得注意的物种包括：
- Oxalis corniculata: Creeping Woodsorrel
Oxalis corniculata：匍匐酢浆草 - Oxalis pes-caprae: Bermuda Buttercup
Oxalis pes-caprae：百慕大酢浆草 - Oxalis acetosella: European Wood-Sorrel
Oxalis acetosella：欧洲酢浆草 - Oxalis dillenii: Slender Yellow Woodsorrel
Oxalis dillenii：细黄酢浆草 - Oxalis debilis: Largeflower Pink-Sorrel
Oxalis debilis：大型粉红酢浆草
Don’t confuse wood sorrel with the “true” sorrel in the genus Rumex these are two plants that despite their similar names aren’t actually closely related. More on that in the next section.
不要将酢浆草与_Rumex_属的“真”酢浆草混淆，尽管它们名字相似，但实际上并非密切相关。下一节将详细介绍。
Wood sorrel is one of many wild food species that is featured in my biggest wild food foraging guide. Check it out here!
酢浆草是我最大野生食物采集指南中许多野生食物物种之一。点击此处查看！
Etymology and names 词源和名称
There are many common names for wood sorrel, like sourgrass, or my favorite, nature’s skittles!
酢浆草有很多俗名，例如酸草，或者我最喜欢的，大自然的小糖豆！
Oxalis comes from Greek oxus which means “sharp, pointed,” in reference to the sharp sour flavor.
Oxalis_来自希腊语_oxus，意思是“尖锐的、尖刺的”，指的是尖锐的酸味。
True “sorrel” are actually Rumex – Dock/Sorrel species. The common denominator is that they are both sour-tasting greens. The term sorrel comes from French sur and PIE “sura,” meaning “sour” (Etymology Online).
真正的“酢浆草”实际上是**Rumex – 藜/酢浆草**物种。共同点是它们都是酸味的绿色蔬菜。酢浆草一词源于法语_sur_和 PIE “sura”，意思是“酸的”（Etymology Online）。
History 历史
An interesting mention in King’s American Dispensatory is that one can drink a mixture of chalk (calcium carbonate) with water if one eats too much wood sorrel. This is likely because calcium was believed to counteract the oxalic acid!
在King's American Dispensatory中有一个有趣的提到，如果吃了太多酢浆草，可以用石灰（碳酸钙）和水混合饮用。这可能是因为人们相信钙可以抵消草酸！
There are many mentions of Native American tribes consuming the plants both raw and cooked. One reference kept popping up that they bulbs were fed to horses to make them faster. I have no idea if that works, but horse owners, might be something to try (Source: Native American Ethnobotany).
有许多关于美洲原住民部落食用生食和熟食的记载。有一个反复出现的参考，即将球茎喂给马以使其更快。我不知道这是否有效，但马主，这可能值得一试（来源：美洲原住民民族植物学）。
Identification 识别
Wood sorrel are easy plants to recognize. If you know what details to look for! Below you can see a graphic highlighting some of the important ones. We go into more detail below.
酢浆草很容易识别。如果您知道要寻找哪些细节！下面您可以看到一个突出显示一些重要细节的图表。我们将在下面更详细地介绍。
You can find a high-res version of the below graphic for free on my Patreon page!
您可以在我的 Patreon 页面上免费找到该图表的高清版本！
Leaves 叶子
To me, their two most iconic features are trifoliate compound leaves with notched, “heart-shaped” leaflets. You may think that the leaves somewhat resemble what you know of as “shamrock,” which we’ll discuss further later!
对我来说，它们两个最具标志性的特征是三叶复叶和有缺刻的“心形”小叶。你可能会觉得叶子有点像你所知道的“三叶草”，我们稍后会进一步讨论！
One trifoliate compound leaf of wood sorrel
一种三叶酸模叶
Below you can clearly see a single heart-shaped leaflet of wood sorrel. Remember, this is not a leaf itself, but part of a leaf!
您下方可以看到一片形状像心的酢浆草小叶。请记住，这不是一片完整的叶子，而只是一片叶子的一部分！
Heart-shaped leaflet of wood sorrel
酢浆草心形小叶
Flowers 花
The flowers of wood sorrel range from yellow, to pale purple, to a vibrant pink! What they all have in common is five petals, five sepals, and ten stamen!
木酢浆草的花朵颜色从黄色到浅紫色再到鲜艳的粉色！它们共同的特点是五片花瓣、五片萼片和十根雄蕊！
You can see a detailed view below.
你可以在下方看到详细视图。
Close up of a wood sorrel flower
酢浆草花朵特写
Fruit 水果
Wood sorrel has long “capsule-like” fruits. Depending on whether the species is annual or perennial they may produce hundreds of seeds or only a couple dozen. (The annual ones produce more)
酢浆草有长长的“蒴果状”果实。根据物种是年生还是多年生，它们可能产生数百颗种子或仅几十颗。（一年生的产生更多）
Close up of the capsule-like fruits of wood sorrel
酢浆草蒴果的近景
Wood sorrel identification overview:
酢浆草识别概述：
- Flowers: five-petaled, with varying colors, typically yellow to pinkish in hue; five sepals, ten stamens, and a fused carpel
花朵：五瓣花瓣，颜色各异，通常为黄色至粉红色；五个萼片，十枚雄蕊和一个合生心皮 - Leaves: compound trifoliate leaves are alternate, individual leaflets are usually distinctly heart-shaped. Some species have greater than three leaflets, but the vast majority is trifoliate
叶子：复叶三出，单叶通常明显心形。有些物种的叶片多于三片，但绝大多数是三出叶的 - Fruit: long, capsule-like fruit
水果：长形、囊状的果实
These generally work for the vast majority of wood sorrel, but there are some notable exceptions to the leaflet count. For instance, Oxalis tetraphylla has four leaflets per leaf and Oxalis decaphylla has a whole ten leaflets per leaf!
这些通常适用于大多数酢浆草，但叶片数量有一些明显的例外。例如，_四叶酢浆草_每片叶子有四片小叶，而_十叶酢浆草_每片叶子竟然有整整十片小叶！
Lookalikes 相似的植物
While wood sorrel are easy to recognize, there are a couple of important similar-looking plants to be aware of. With just a few details, you’ll be able to tell them apart easily!
虽然酢浆草很容易辨认，但需要注意一些外观相似的植物。只要注意一些细节，就能轻松区分它们！
White Clover - Trifolium repens
白三叶 - Trifolium repens
Wood sorrel is not the same as clover, this is a common confusion. Wood sorrel and clover are not closely related at all, but they are commonly confused because they both have trifoliate compound leaves.
酢浆草和三叶草不同，这是一种常见的混淆。酢浆草和三叶草根本没有密切的关系，但它们经常被混淆，因为它们都有三叶复叶。
Many articles about clover will wrongly use photos of wood sorrel, further contributing to the confusion!
许多关于三叶草的文章会错误地使用酢浆草的照片，进一步加剧了这种混淆！
Here are two details to easily distinguish them:
以下两点可以轻松区分它们：
- White clover has leaflets that are not deeply notched (not heart-shaped)
白三叶的叶片没有深深的缺刻（不是心形的） - White clover has compound flowers vs the simple 5-petaled wood sorrel flowers.
白三叶的复合花与酸模的单瓣五瓣花不同。
Black medic - Medicago lupulina
黑医 - Medicago lupulina
Similar to the comparison for clover:
与苜蓿的比较类似：
- Black medic also lacks deeply notched leaflets
黑麦草也缺乏深裂的小叶 - Black medica has compound, not simple flowers
黑麦草具有复花，而非单花
Buttercup - Ranunculus
金盏花 - 毛茛
This may not be as close of a lookalike, but I’m including it because they are toxic with similar yellow flowers that often grow right next to wood sorrel plants.
这可能不像那么相似的仿制品，但我将其包括在内，因为它们有毒，并且有类似的黄色花朵，经常生长紧挨着酢浆草植物。
Make sure to follow the flowers down to the leaves which are very different in form, being pinnately compound rather than palmate with wood sorrel. Further, the petals of buttercup are distinctly shiny, something that wood sorrel flowers lack.
务必将目光从花朵转向叶子，叶子的形状差异很大，是羽状复叶而非酢浆草的掌状复叶。此外，金盏花的花瓣明显有光泽，而酢浆草花则缺乏这种特征。
Summary: 摘要：
- Buttercup has pinnately compound leaves vs palmate compound with wood sorrel
酢浆草的叶子是掌状复叶，而金莲花是羽状复叶 - Buttercup has distinctly shiny petals; they glisten in the sun, wood sorrel does not
金盏花的花瓣明显光亮；它们在阳光下闪闪发光，酢浆草则没有
When to find wood sorrel
何时找到酢浆草
Many species, particularly annual ones like Oxalis stricta, can be found nearly year-round.
许多物种，尤其是像_Oxalis stricta_这样的年生植物，几乎全年都能找到。
However, others, like Violet wood sorrel and similar species, are perennials and go dormant when the weather gets hotter.
然而，其他一些植物，例如紫花酢浆草及其类似物种，是多年生植物，当天气变热时会休眠。
You can use my Interactive Forager’s Calendar in order to get a better idea of the timing if you’d like to find it!
您可以使用我的互动采集者日历，以便更好地了解时间，如果您想找到它！
Where to find 如何找到
Where wood sorrel plants are found depends on the species. Wood sorrel can grow in various locations:
酢浆草植物的生长地取决于物种。酢浆草可以在各种地方生长：
- Disturbed habitat 扰动栖息地
- Woodland settings 林地环境
- Suburban lawns 城郊草坪
Species like Upright Yellow Woodsorrel are often found growing right in your lawn and other open areas!
像直立黄酢浆草这样的物种经常生长在你的草坪和其他开阔区域！
Species like Violet Wood Sorrel are instead located in more mature woodlands and forests.
像紫花酢浆草这样的物种，却位于较为成熟的林地和森林中。
Violet wood sorrel found deep in the woods!
深山里发现的紫花酢浆草！
Edibility 可食用性
All parts of wood sorrel are edible: the leaves, stems, flowers, seed pods, and even tubers! (Though not all species produce a large tuber) In addition, all species of wood sorrel are edible!
酢浆草所有部分都可食用：叶子、茎、花、种子荚，甚至块茎！ (尽管并非所有种类都产生大型块茎) 此外，所有种类的酢浆草都可食用！
This is one of the many benefits of wood sorrel. Wood sorrel has an incredible sour taste. My favorite species for flavor is Violet Woodsorrel, which is exceptionally tangy!
这是酢浆草众多益处之一。酢浆草味道非常酸。我的最爱是紫叶酢浆草，酸味特别浓！
Violet wood sorrel leaves have the best flavor in my opinion
紫花酢浆草的叶子，我认为味道最好
However, it’s best to harvest perennial species like Violet Woodsorrel with care and only take what a population could easily replace.
然而，最好小心地采摘紫花酢浆草等多年生植物，只采摘种群很容易替代的数量。
Wood sorrel can be eaten raw or cooked. Here are some of my favorite ways!
酢浆草可以生吃或煮熟。这里有一些我最喜欢的吃法！
- Garnish for salad 沙拉配菜
- Trailside snack 路边小吃
- Main dish topping 主菜配料
- Sour drink hot infusion 酸性饮料热浸出物
Using the leaves and flowers as a salad garnish
用叶子和花朵作为沙拉装饰
Wood sorrel tea 酸模草茶
This is my favorite way to consume wood sorrel! I’ve tested several different preparations.
这是我吃酸模草的最爱！我已经尝试过几种不同的制备方法。
First I tried a cold infusion with the blended leaves. This worked okay, it was kind of like a sour-cucumber drink.
首先，我尝试用混合的叶子进行冷浸泡。效果还不错，有点像酸黄瓜饮料。
A blended and filtered cold infusion
一种混合过滤的冷浸茶
Next, I tried to dehydrate the leaves and make tea with them. This was decent as well, but not my favorite.
接下来，我尝试将叶子脱水制成茶。效果也不错，但不是我最喜欢的。
Dehydrated wood sorrel tea doesn't have as much flavor, but is still sour!
脱水酢浆草茶味道没有那么浓，但仍然酸！
By far, my favorite with the best flavor was a hot wood sorrel tea made directly from fresh leaves.
到目前为止，我最喜欢的，味道最好的，是用新鲜的叶子直接冲泡的热酸模叶茶。
Here is how I make it.
这是我的制作方法。
First, gather your fresh leaves and place them into a container.
首先，收集新鲜的叶子，并将它们放入容器中。
Adding fresh leaves to make tea
添加新鲜的叶子泡茶
Next, pour over boiling water and let it steep for 5-15 minutes.
然后，倒入沸水，浸泡 5-15 分钟。
Pour boiling water over the fresh leaves
将沸水倒在新鲜的叶子上面
After that, strain out the solids. Now, you’re ready to enjoy!
之后，过滤掉固体。现在，你可以享用了！
You can add some sweetness if you’d like to complement the delicious sour flavor.
如果你想补充一下美味的酸味，可以加点甜味。
It can be drank hot or with ice to make it an iced-tea!
可以热饮或加冰，制成冰茶！
Strain out the solid for your wood sorrel tea
将木酢浆草茶中的固体杂质过滤掉
Here is a summary of the recipe:
以下是食谱摘要：
- Gather wood sorrel leaves.
收集酢浆草叶子。 - Place leaves into a container.
将叶子放入容器中。 - Pour over boiling water (1:3 ratio).
倒入沸水（1:3 比例）。 - Let it steep for 5-15 minutes.
浸泡 5-15 分钟。 - Strain, sweeten to taste, and enjoy!
过滤，根据口味加糖，然后享用！ - Optional: add ice to make a cold refreshing beverage.
可选：加入冰块，制成清凉解暑的饮料。
Iced wood sorrel tea is my favorite!
冰木槿茶是我的最爱！
Medicinal uses 药用用途
To me, there aren’t any major medicinal uses of wood sorrel that stand out.
对我来说，木酢浆草并没有什么显著的药用价值。
That being said, they contain some amount of ascorbic acid, so can be used to prevent scurvy, if you ever find yourself in such a situation!
尽管如此，它们含有少量抗坏血酸，因此可以用来预防坏血病，如果你遇到这种情况！
There are also mentions of the plant being used to quell thirst and even some external uses for sores (Source: Native American Ethnobotany).
也有关于该植物用于止渴，甚至一些外用治疗溃疡的记载（来源：美洲土著民族植物学）。
Chemistry 化学成分
Wood sorrel contain oxalic acid, the chemical was actually named after these plants (Oxalis) as it was first isolated from wood sorrel.
木酢草含有草酸，这种化学物质实际上是以这些植物（酢浆草）的名字命名的，因为它最初是从木酢草中分离出来的。
Finally, in 2024, we got a paper that directly reports the oxalic acid content in a species of Oxalis, O. pes-caprae, which contains approximately 102mg/g (dw) (Source: MDPI).
最后，在 2024 年，我们得到了一篇直接报告一种_酢浆草_物种（O. pes-caprae）中草酸含量的论文，该物种含有大约102mg/g（干重）（来源：MDPI）。
They also gave good values for moisture content, so we can estimate the fresh weight content would be around 22.42mg/g.
他们还提供了良好的水分含量值，因此我们可以估计鲜重含量大约为22.42mg/g。
This allows us to directly compare wood sorrel content to that found in a thorough investigation of spinach (Source: HortScience). The study found oxalic acid content to be roughly 84.5mg/g (dw) and using (Source: ResearchGate), we get a moisture loss of 86.7% to give us a fresh weight content of 11.24mg/g.
这使我们能够直接比较酢浆草的含量与菠菜的全面调查结果（来源：HortScience）。研究发现草酸含量约为84.5mg/g（干重），并使用（来源：ResearchGate），我们得到 86.7%的失水率，从而得出鲜重含量为11.24mg/g。
These values will be used in the Safety section.
这些值将用于 安全 部分。
Source of the sour taste
酸味的来源
Wood sorrel is known for its sour taste, which is often attributed directly to oxalic acid; however, I believe that the presence of other acids, such as citric acid, (or ascorbic acid) could contribute to the flavor as well (Source: PubMed)!
酢浆草以其酸味而闻名，这 通常直接归因于草酸；然而，我认为 其他酸的存在，例如 柠檬酸，（或抗坏血酸）也可能对风味做出贡献（来源：PubMed）！
Safety 安全性
You may have heard that wood sorrel should only be consumed in moderation? Let’s explore why that is and if it is valid or not.
你可能听说过酸模草只能适量食用？让我们探讨一下原因以及它是否有效。
From what we’ve established in the Chemistry section, we can get a good idea of the amount of wood sorrel that is safe to eat.
从我们在化学部分建立的知识来看，我们可以很好地了解安全食用的酸模草的量。
While dozens of articles will tell you to only eat wood sorrel in moderation, they won’t tell you what that amount is! So we’re going to do things differently!
虽然数十篇文章会建议你只适量食用酢浆草，但它们不会告诉你那个量是多少！所以我们要与众不同！
If we use spinach as a reference, then likely we could consume around 30 grams of wood sorrel in a day multiple times in a week. Why? Because multiple recipes for “green-smoothies” that people consume often contain roughly 60 grams of spinach. It would take 30 grams of wood sorrel to get the same amount of oxalates as spinach contains half the oxalate content per fresh weight.
如果我们以菠菜为参考，那么我们可能每天多次在一周内食用大约 30 克酢浆草。为什么？因为人们经常食用的“绿色冰沙”的多种食谱大约含有 60 克菠菜。需要 30 克酢浆草才能获得与菠菜中相同数量的草酸盐，因为每单位鲜重酢浆草的草酸盐含量是菠菜的一半。
You will never be able to forage that much wood sorrel unless you go very far out of your way!
你永远不可能采集到那么多酢浆草，除非你走很远的路！
I tested this myself and 30 grams of wood sorrel is about triple what I would normally forage even if I was consuming what to me is a large amount.
我亲测，30 克酢浆草大约是我平时采摘量的三倍，即使我食用的是我认为的大量。
I would go so far as to say that there is little need to even warn people about moderation with consuming wood sorrel as there are too many barriers before that would even be a concern.
我甚至可以说，人们几乎不需要提醒食用酢浆草要适量，因为在它成为问题之前，会有太多障碍。
You don’t see articles for those green smoothies going out of their way to warn people about oxalates, which likely would be responsible for FAR more oxalic consumption than wood sorrel ever could.
你不会看到那些绿色蔬果汁文章特别提醒人们注意草酸，而草酸摄入量很可能远超过酢酱草。
Beyond that, the dangers of oxalate consumption for the vast majority of the population are likely overblown. Other factors like sugary drink consumption, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle are more likely to be contributors to kidney stone formation.
除此之外，对于绝大多数人来说，草酸摄入的危害可能被夸大了。诸如含糖饮料的摄入、肥胖和久坐不动的生活方式更有可能是肾结石形成的因素。
TL;DR – Wood sorrel is safe to consume for the vast majority of people!
TL;DR——酸模草对大多数人来说是安全的！
30 grams of wood sorrel is exceeding difficult to gather!
采集 30 克酢浆草太难了！
Is Shamrock wood sorrel? 三叶草是酢浆草吗？
There is a lot of confusion about this. An important thing to note before we get started is nobody actually knows what Shamrock truly is. We have some guesses based on historical texts in Ireland, but not a definitive answer.
关于这个有很多混淆。在我们开始之前，需要注意的一点是没有人真正知道三叶草到底是什么。我们根据爱尔兰的历史文献有一些猜测，但没有确切的答案。
That being said, based on the way that shamrock is often represented, I would say that wood sorrel is the best candidate for it! You can see in the below photo with the notched leaves, the classic form of wood sorrel.
话虽如此，根据三叶草的常见表现形式，我认为酢浆草是最佳候选者！您可以在下面的照片中看到带有缺刻叶子的酢浆草，经典的形态。
Closing thoughts 结语
I think wood sorrel is a fantastic wild food and herb that more people should know about!
我认为酢浆草是一种很棒的野生食物和草药，应该让更多人了解！
If you haven’t eaten it before, you are missing out!
如果你以前没吃过，那你真是错过了！
Wood sorrel is FAR safer than many articles would lead you to believe, which is mainly due to misattributed fears of wild food.
酢浆草比许多文章让你相信的要安全得多，这主要是因为对野生食物的误解和恐惧。
I hope you learned something new in my article. I’ll see you in the next one!
我希望你在我的文章中学到了一些新东西。下次再见！
