What Is the Difference Between Sorrel and Clover? A Quick Guide to Telling Them Apart

There are countless plants in the world, and many look alike, just like sorrel and clover. So do you know what the difference is between sorrel and clover?

1. What is the difference between sorrel and clover?

Sorrel is a perennial herbaceous plant, with sparse soft hairs all over; while clover is an annual herb, with slender stems, prostrate or creeping, slightly branched at the base, and only the upper part covered with sparse short soft hairs. In addition, the flowering and fruiting period of clover is from April to September, while that of sorrel is from February to September.

2. An Introduction to Sorrel and Clover!

Sorrel:

1. Sorrel generally refers to Oxalis corniculata, also known as sour sorrel, sour-sour grass, spotted dove sorrel, three-leaf sorrel, sour mimimi, and hooked grass. It prefers sunny, warm, and humid environments. In hot summer regions, it should be given half shade. It has strong drought resistance but is not cold-tolerant. It can grow in ordinary garden soil, but grows most vigorously in sandy loam rich in humus, and has a short dormant period in summer.

2. Sorrel grows on mountain slopes, grassy ponds, along river valleys, roadsides, field edges, wasteland, or in shaded and damp places under forests. It is widely distributed in China, and is also found in the temperate and subtropical zones of Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, and North America.

3. The whole plant of sorrel is used as medicine; it can reduce fever, promote urination, reduce swelling, and disperse blood stasis. The stems and leaves contain oxalic acid, which can be used to polish mirrors or wipe copperware to give it a shine. Cattle and sheep can be poisoned to death if they eat too much of it.

Clover:

1. Clover is a general term for a variety of herbaceous plants with trifoliate palmate compound leaves, mainly including three categories: the genus Trifolium in the Fabaceae family (considered the most authentic clover), the genus Medicago, and certain species in the genus Oxalis of the Oxalidaceae family.

2. In many Western countries (such as the United Kingdom and the United States), clover represents good luck, because it is considered a plant that exists only in the Garden of Eden. In some countries, the club suit in playing cards represents the lucky clover. The number of clover leaves represents true love, health, and fame.

3. Clover is widely distributed and highly adaptable. It is not only excellent feed for livestock, but also a good preceding crop for agricultural crops. It is also an excellent low-growing crop for orchard ground cover, and at the same time serves as a plant for soil and water conservation, a honey source, medicinal use, green manure, lawn ground cover, and an excellent soil-improving crop.

4. Clover tastes sweet and sour, is cool in nature, and has the effects of clearing heat, draining dampness, detoxifying, and reducing swelling. It is mainly used for symptoms such as colds with fever, enteritis, urinary tract infections, urinary tract stones, and neurasthenia. For external use, it treats injuries from falls and blows, venomous snake bites, carbuncles, swellings, sores and boils, athlete's foot, eczema, and burns and scalds.

Although clover and Oxalis corniculata look quite similar, with careful identification you can still distinguish the two very well.