Close-up of a plant with a 5-petaled yellow flower and clover-shaped leaves growing in a lawn.

A common yellow woodsorrel plant beginning to bloom. Photo: Rob Routledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org

Updated: November 5, 2026

Several species of woodsorrel (Oxalis) occur in Maryland. The species typically encountered growing as weeds are:

  • creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata), non-native
  • slender yellow woodsorrel (Oxalis dillenii), native
  • common yellow woodsorrel (Oxalis stricta), native

Common yellow woodsorrel is often found in lawns, while creeping woodsorrel is more commonly found in garden beds and pavement gaps. Woodsorrels can also be found in container plantings.

What traits do these woodsorrels have in common?

Creeping, slender yellow, and common yellow woodsorrel share several flower and foliage traits, and they all spread by seed.

  • The small ¼- or ½-inch wide flowers are yellow with 5 petal-like sepals. They are borne on long stalks that arise from the leaf axils (where the leaves attach to the main stem).
  • The leaf arrangement is alternate on the stem (they do not attach directly opposite each other).
  • The leaves have long petioles (stalks connecting them to the main stem).
  • Leaves are divided into 3 heart-shaped, evenly-spaced leaflets. This shape and arrangement superficially resembles clover leaves. The leaf margins are entire, meaning that they do not have lobes, serrations, or scallops along their edges.
  • The leaflets tend to fold down (like a closed umbrella) during the middle of the day and overnight.
  • Seeds are produced in ½-inch slender, upright pods which burst explosively when the seeds are ripe.

How do these woodsorrels differ?

As its common name implies, creeping woodsorrel is a lower-growing, sprawling plant that is more likely to produce runners and root at the nodes (the locations where leaves join the main stem) compared to the more upright-growing slender and common yellow woodsorrels. The runners that yellow woodsorrel can produce are rhizomes (below-ground stems), which have a white to pinkish color; the runners on creeping woodsorrel are stolons (above-ground stems).

The leaves of creeping woodsorrel are more often purplish than the leaves of the other two species, but this alone is not a reliable trait separating them. Purple-leaved woodsorrels can be hard to spot when growing in a mulched bed because the foliage tends to blend in.

It can be hard to identify these three species with certainty, and hybridization may occur, making key features harder to distinguish. Fine details requiring magnification are needed to separate them. For example, the stem hairs on slender woodsorrel lay fairly flat and close to the stem, while common yellow woodsorrel stems are hairless or have hairs that stick outwards from the stem. The texture and coloration of the surface of their tiny seeds also differs.

Try using identification keys or species descriptions (there will be a lot of terminology used) if you want to remove creeping woodsorrel but allow the native woodsorrels to grow in certain areas.

Close-up side view of a flowering common yellow woodsorrel stem. Sparse, short, fine hairs stand out from the stem at near-right angles.
The fine hairs on a common yellow woodsorrel stem stand out and are not pressed nearly flat against the stem as they would be on slender woodsorrel. Photo: Rob Routledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org
Magnified view of a creeping woodsorrel seed. The oval-shaped seed has about a half-dozen ridges running perpendicular to its length, and is an even brown color.
Creeping woodsorrel seeds are an even brown color, with several parallel ridges running across the surface. Photo: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org
Magnified view of a common yellow woodsorrel seed. The oval-shaped seed has over a half-dozen ridges running perpendicular to its length. The ridges are a paler brown than the rest of the seed.
Slender yellow woodsorrel (and sometimes common yellow woodsorrel) seeds have light-colored ridges on their surface. Photo: Bruce Ackley, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org

General woodsorrel identification

Close-up of two yellow flowers with 5 symmetrically-arranged petal-like sepals.
Common yellow woodsorrel flowers, with 5 petal-like sepals that are spaced evenly around a central throat. Photo via Adobe Stock.
Purple-blushed leaves and a yellow flower on a nearly-flat creeping woodsorrel plant growing in a pavement gap.
Creeping woodsorrel grows low to the ground and often bears purple-tinged leaves. Photo via Adobe Stock.
An uprooted woodsorrel stem on a black background, showing the alternate leaf arrangement and roots growing from multiple points along the creeping stem.
Alternate leaf arrangement and a stolon with roots at the nodes on an uprooted creeping woodsorrel plant. Photo via Adobe Stock.
A narrow, long seed pod with lengthwise ridges and short hairs, held upright on a creeping woodsorrel stem.
Creeping woodsorrel seed pod. Photo via Adobe Stock.

Similar species

Two common weeds that also have 3 leaflets which may be confused with woodsorrel are black medic and white clover. In bloom, they are easy to distinguish from each other, and the leaflet shape is unique to woodsorrel; the leaflets of those legumes do not have a cleft tip that gives woodsorrel its heart-like outline.

Life cycle and reproduction

These woodsorrel species can be summer annuals or perennials. Summer annual seeds germinate in spring, the plants grow and bloom in summer, and ripen seeds prior to dying by autumn. Annual plants have a one-year life cycle. Perennial plants live for several years. The Flora of North America classifies creeping woodsorrel as an annual, common yellow woodsorrel as an annual or short-lived perennial, and slender yellow woodsorrel as a perennial.

Flowers can appear any time from around mid-spring into autumn, and blooming can begin a month or less after germination. Seeds may be flung from burst ripe pods about 12 feet from the plant, and can remain dormant in the soil for years.

Conditions that favor growth

These 3 species of woodsorrel thrive in full sun in moist, fertile soils, but can grow under a wide range of conditions, including shadier sites and tolerating drought.

Woodsorrel management in lawns

General lawn care practices that discourage weeds

Maintain healthy, dense turf that can compete with weeds and prevent weed germination and establishment. Fertilize the lawn as recommended (based on season and turf type), mow high, and overseed cool-season lawns each autumn to keep the lawn dense and better able to crowd-out seedling weeds. Core-aerate to reduce soil compaction. Learn about fertilizing, mowing, overseeding, and aeration in the resource: Maintaining an Established Lawn.

Lawn care and maintenance

Mechanical management

Remove woodsorrel plants by hand (including the taproot) or with a manual weeding tool. Doing this when the soil is moist makes the task easier. Pulling up or digging out individual plants is a viable option at the beginning of an infestation (when the plants are not yet abundant) and for young woodsorrel plants.

Manage Weeds Without Chemicals

Chemical management

Herbicide use should always be a last resort when managing weeds. Check for any local pesticide restrictions before buying and applying a product. For example, the Montgomery County pesticide law does not allow most synthetic pesticides (which includes herbicides) to be used on lawns. The active ingredient glyphosate is also prohibited on lawns in Baltimore City.

Learn about herbicide classifications and terminology:

Herbicide Options for Managing Common Lawn Weeds

Post-emergent herbicide

Spot-treat individual woodsorrel plants or infested areas with a liquid broadleaf herbicide applied when the weeds are actively growing. Look for a product with one or more of the following active ingredients: 2, 4-D, MCPP (mecoprop), dicamba, or triclopyr. An application of non-selective herbicide may work, but would also damage any turfgrass exposed to the herbicide.

CAUTION: Do not spray herbicides containing dicamba over the root zone of desirable trees and shrubs. Roots or leaves may absorb this ingredient and be substantially damaged. Refer to the product label for other precautions.

References

Del Tredici, P. (2010). Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide. Comstock Publishing Associates.

Neal, J.C., Uva, R.H., et. al. (2023). Weeds of the Northeast. (Second edition.) Comstock Publishing Associates.

Royer, F., and Dickinson, R. (1999). Weeds of the Northern U.S. and Canada. The University of Alberta Press.

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