This is it.
Rumex acetosa. The Rumex genus are the Docks and Sorrels and this one is also sometimes known as Narrow-leaved Dock.
The leaves are described as arrow-shaped (sagittate) they grow alternately and they clasp the stem.
It is dioecious, meaning that it has separate male and female plants.
This is the male with staminate flowers.
The female plant bears both the pistillate flowers and the fruits.
Common Sorrel is an edible plant that was once widely cultivated for the kitchen as a salad leaf and herb. It also has medicinal properties. It has been grown this way for hundreds of years but in Britain it lost favour to French Sorrel which has a milder flavour.
I think that this one is more suited to cultivation in your little vegetable plot than foraging from the wild. It is the leaf that you want and these wild plants haven’t got much leaf on them. I have read that you have to clip off young leaves to create a more bushy plant and cut it right back when the flower stalk starts to grow.
Never mind I will still have a taste of it next time I am out there.
The Docks can be quite difficult to get to species because they hybridise easily. I think that this is one of the easier ones to identify 🙂
A Farm, A Forest and Fizz 
Hmm, interesting plant. I don’t think we have that here. I’m growing some French sorrel in the garden for the first time this year cos my daughter in law says it’s good.
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Thank you Nancy 🙂 I must admit that I haven’t tried this yet My landlord has told me that I could have some space if I wanted to grow things, he grows his own veg. I hadn’t bothered because I didn’t expect to be able to stay. There are quite a few “Weeds” that I would like to grow, sort of a medieval garden of things that we used to call food. I think that would be quite interesting and make for a few good blog posts too but it needs a bit of planning. Food for thought 🙂
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I tried a piece of her French sorrel and it’s sour and I don’t like it! I grow a couple things that were eaten during the middle ages, some wormwoods, and an herb called lovage. Wrote a blog about it once. It tastes like strong celery and it’s actually the plant celery seeds for cooking come from. It’s not good to eat plain, but if you throw a couple stalks in soup, it gives an interesting celery-like flavor. It holds up to cooking well and you can discard it when the soup is done. Maybe you want to check that one out.
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I like is its dark brown color.
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Thank you Betty Louise 🙂
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I’ll have to look more closely at the flowers next time
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Thank you Maureen 🙂 I love the dioecious plants. It is just more interesting if you have two different types of flower. I have nothing against hermaphrodites, don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are um…Barren Strawberries. I had better quit now while I am still ahead 🙂
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and I have nothing against Barren Strawberries… 🙂
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I have a third of a garden sprouting docks at the moment and I ought to sample them and see how many species or hybrids there are. Excellent photos Colin.
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Thank you Andrew 🙂 I had a crack at the Docks last summer, it is not easy to get them to species. I think that you will have to look closely at their nutlets 🙂
The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland are my preferred authority
Their full list of cribs can be found here:
BSBI Plant Crib
and their Rumex crib here:
BSBI Rumex
If you can get Cicuta58 (BSBI) to confirm your Rumex observations then I will be impressed 🙂
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Thanks Colin. I think it is a project for next year. I am becoming overwhelmed.
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The winged seeds are beautiful!
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Thank you Eliza 🙂 Aren’t they? But you have to look closely. From just a short distance this looks just like a reddish brown weed, it all blurs together. Lots of things are like that 🙂
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Very true!
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Rather a pretty colour too.
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Thank you Vicki 🙂 It is lovely.
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Such a lovely plant when you look closely at it, as you say. I took a few photos of the docks in my garden and the lanes last year and found what I thought was common sorrel, curled dock and broad-leaved dock. I tried growing common sorrel a few years ago but wasn’t able to harvest much for me as the rabbits got there first. I did find it very bitter but had thought to chop it up and add it to a cheese dish but never got the opportunity (rabbits). My family weren’t keen either 😦
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Thank you Clare 🙂 It is nice that you look after your Rabbits though.
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😀 They are extremely good at looking after themselves. We have a very sweet looking baby rabbit in the garden who enjoys eating all we have to offer. It gets around with a few little hops and then a very big high jump in the air. Very comical!
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