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Integrated Crop Management
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Yellow woodsorrel

Yellow woodsorrel                                   Oxalis stricta L.

Family: Oxalidaceae (Woodsorrel family)
Life cycle: Perennial/annual depending upon climate
Native status: Native to N. America
Habitat: Poorly maintained turf; waste areas

General description: Young plants are erect, but as age they become spreading. Leaves are light-green, trifoliolate with heart-shaped leaflets. Yellow flowers with five petals; fruit is a 5-ridged, cylindrical capsule up to 0.6 inch long. Spreads by seeds and rhizomes.

Key ID traits: Light-green, heart-shaped leaflets on trifoliolate leaf.

Similar species: Yellow woodsorrel is often mistaken for a legume because of the trifoliate leaves resembling those of clovers. However, yellow woodsorrel lacks stipules on the base of petioles, a characteristic of the trifoliolate legumes (clovers; black medic) and it has heart-shaped leaflets.

Miscellaneous: Leaves fold up at night. Plants have a lemony flavor, and are often used in salads. The flavor is due to oxalic acid. The seed capsules ‘explode’, dispersing seed distances greater than 10 feet.

Yellow woodsorrel leaves have three, heart-shaped leaflets.
Often mistaken for a clover because of the trifoliate leaves, flowers of yellow woodsorrel have 5 uniform petals, whereas clovers and other legumes have irregular flowers with petals known as banner, wings and keels.
The ridged seed capsule is up to 0.6 inch long, when mature it 'explodes's and disperses seed up to 12 feet.
Authored by:
Bob Hartzler
Bob Hartzler
  • Retired Weed Scientist and Professor of Agronomy
Dr. Bob Hartzler is a former professor of agronomy and a former extension weed specialist with a Ph.D. in Crop Physiology from Iowa State University. He conducted research on weed biology and how it impacts the efficacy of weed management programs in corn and soybean. Dr. Hartzler also taught undergraduate classes in weed science and weed identification.
Meaghan Anderson
Meaghan Anderson
  • Field Agronomist in Central Iowa
Meaghan Anderson is a field agronomist in central Iowa and an extension specialist at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Areas of expertise include weed management, weed biology, cover crops, corn and soybean management, and integrated pest management.
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