Of Sorrell.
The kindes.
There be diuers kindes of Sorrell differing in many points, some of the garden, and others wilde, some great and some lesser. | | | |---|---| | 1 Oxalis siue Acetosa. | 2 Oxalis tuberosa. | | Sorrell. | Knobbed Sorrell. |
The description.
Though Dioscorides hath not in all things sufficiently expressed the Oxalides, yet none ought to doubt but that they were taken and accounted as the fourth kinde of Lapathum. For though some like it well that the seed should be called Drimus, yet that is to be vnderstoode according to the common phrase, when eger things are confounded with those which be sharp & sower; else we might accuse him of such ignorance as is not amongst the simplest women. Moreover the worde Oxus doth not onely signifie the leafe, but the sauour and tartnesse, which by a figure drawne from the sharpnes of kniues edges, is therefore called sharpe: for ὀξὺς signifieth a sharpe or sower iuice, which pearceth the toong like a sharpe knife: whereupon also Lapathum may be called Oxalis, as it is indeede, hauing leaues thinner, tenderer, and more oileous then Lapatium acutum, broader next to the stemme, horned and crested like Spinage and Atriplex. The stalke is much streaked, reddish and full of iuice: the roote yellowe and fibrous: the seede sharpe cornered and shining, growing in chaffie huskes like the other Dockes. The seconde kinde of Oxalis or Sorrell, hath large leaues like Patience, confusedly growing together vpon a great tall stalke, at the top whereof growe tufts of a chaffie substance. The roote is tuberous, much like the Peonie, or rather Filipendula, fastned to the lower part of the stemme with small long strings and laces. The third kinde of Sorrell groweth very small, braunching hither and thither, taking holde of the ground where it rampeth, whereby it disperseth it selfe farre abroade. The leaues are little and thinne, hauing two small leaues like eares fastned thereto, in shewe like the herbe Sagittaria. The seede in taste is like the other of his kinde. The fourth kinde of Sorrell hath leaues somewhat round and cornered, hauing two short eares annexed vnto the same. The seede and roote in taste is like the other Sorrels. 3 Oxalis tenuifolia. Sheepes Sorrell. 5 Oxalis Crispa. Curled Sorrell. <column-break/> 4 Oxalis Franca seu Romana. Round Sorrell. 5 This kinde of curled Sorrell is a stranger in Englande, and hath verie large leaues, in shape like the garden Sorrell, but curled and crompled about the edges as is the curled Colewoorte. The stalk rifeth vp among the leaues, set here & there with the like leaues, but lesser: the flowers, seede, and rootes are like the common Sorrell or fower Docke. 6 The small Sorrell that groweth vpon dry barren sandie ditch bankes, hath small grassie leaues, somewhat forked or crossed ouer like the crosse hilt of a rapier. The stalkes rise vp among the leaues, small, weake, and tender, of the same fower taste that the leaues are of. The flower, seede, and roote, is like the other Sorrels, but altogither lesser. 7 The smallest sort of Sorrell is like vnto the precedent, sauing that the lowest leaues that lie flat vpon the grounde be somewhat rounde, like vnto the smallest Bell flower, called Campanula minor, Rotundifolia, which setteth foorth the difference.
Text in Gerard's own spelling (the long s is printed as s), transcribed by the Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). A chapter may run onto pages not yet transcribed. Gerard wrote within Galenic medicine; nothing here is advice.