August-September 2021 • Nebraskaland 29
sumptuous. According to early 20
th
century ethnobotanist
Melvin Gilmore, the Pawnee shared my opinion. They ate its
leaves, bulbs, stems and fl owers fresh and boiled.
Similar to early American botanists, Native Americans
did not distinguish between the two yellow-fl owered wood-
sorrels. The Pawnee have several names for the plants. One is
"skidadihorit," which means sour like salt. The Kiowa's name
for the plants translates to salt weed, and on long journeys,
they consumed the leaves to relieve thirst and perhaps to
replace salts loss through perspiration.
The tartness of the wood-sorrels, as well as many other
plants such as rhubarb, results from an abundance of oxalic
acid in their tissues. In plants, oxalic acid forms salts known
as oxalates. In wood-sorrels, the oxlates can be somewhat
toxic if consumed in abundance and dissuade grazing by
insects and larger animals. If humans consume an excess of
wood-sorrels over a period, say as a salad garnish, they can
suff er discomfort; a Kansas botanist confessed to having
suff ered swollen and irritated taste buds.
Please, do not let this dissuade you. Try munching on a leaf
or two of Oxalis. You will fi nd it refreshing.
N
Wood-sorrel seed capsules (foreground) explosively expel
their tiny seeds.
Violet wood-sorrel blooming in a southeastern South Dakota tallgrass prairie. Several Native American tribes used the plant as
a medicine. The Cherokee, for instance, made an infusion of the plant that was consumed and used as a wash for children with
hook worms.
