Common Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) Tissue Paper

Botanical Illustration of Oxalis acetosella, the common wood sorrel, with pink-streaked white flowers. Oxalis is derived from the Greek Oxys, sharp. Acetosella is a latin word that refers to the sour taste of the leaves, due to the presence of oxalic acid. The leaves--which are heart-shaped and folded through the middle--are very sensitive and fold up if handled; they also close when it rains or gets dark. Very often these dainty little plants are passed off as shamrocks, but 'shamrock' is actually just a corruption of an Irish word that means "little clover" and generally refers to white clover Trifolium repens. Shamrocks/clovers have rounded--not heart shaped--leaves (like wood sorrel)