United States / Grow / common sheep sorrel

common sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella)
Photo: (c) Kieran Hanrahan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

common sheep sorrel

Rumex acetosella · Polygonaceae · all Rumex records · also called Sheep sorrel · Wikipedia

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Rumex acetosella is included in a north-eastern vegetation combustion study using a cone calorimeter. The tested condition was cured, with its boundary retained under performance conditions.

Ten seed-list rows are documented under the seed list. Their regulatory sourcing remains separate from the combustion lineage for sheep sorrel.

The three ecological invasive reports accompany those fire and seed-list facts. They remain ecological evidence in the profile, while the evidence table preserves the source trail for the selected combustion study. Their role does not alter the cured condition or the ten-row seed-list count.

Form
perennial
Rated in
Global; New Zealand; north-eastern and mid-Atlantic United States
Uses
pasture
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
1 condition stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Evidence regions
Global; New Zealand; north-eastern and mid-Atlantic United States
Typed publication scope: 1 scope across 1 cited fire source
  • Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter · Official scoped edition
    • Northeastern and mid-Atlantic study sites (ME, MD, MA, NY, VA footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2007-08-20

      The authors collected foliage and twigs across study sites in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, then conditioned and tested the samples in a cone calorimeter. FireApproved publishes 37 exact source owners only as multi-state laboratory context. The source does not establish that every taxon was sampled in every named state, whole-plant behavior, landscape suitability, or state planting guidance.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
Introduced / established
52 sourced range or established records. This is not an invasive warning.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Seed-list status
10 state noxious-weed seed records; the Place chip matches exact scope.
Reported invasive here
3 ecological invasive reports.
How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Native and introduced range evidence

These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval. Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.

Current native

0

exact source areas

Current introduced

52

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

52 introduced source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Aleutian Is. (AK)
  • Alaska (AK)
  • Alabama (AL)
  • Arkansas (AR)
  • Arizona (AZ)
  • California (CA)
  • Colorado (CO)
  • Connecticut (CT)
  • District of Columbia (DC)
  • Delaware (DE)
  • Florida (FL)
  • Georgia (GA)
  • Hawaii (HI)
  • Iowa (IA)
  • Idaho (ID)
  • Illinois (IL)
  • Indiana (IN)
  • Kansas (KS)
  • Kentucky (KY)
  • Louisiana (LA)
  • Massachusetts (MA)
  • Maryland (MD)
  • Maine (ME)
  • Michigan (MI)
  • Minnesota (MN)
  • Missouri (MO)
  • Mississippi (MS)
  • Montana (MT)
  • North Carolina (NC)
  • North Dakota (ND)
  • Nebraska (NE)
  • New Hampshire (NH)
  • New Jersey (NJ)
  • New Mexico (NM)
  • Nevada (NV)
  • New York (NY)
  • Ohio (OH)
  • Oklahoma (OK)
  • Oregon (OR)
  • Pennsylvania (PA)
  • Rhode I. (RI)
  • South Carolina (SC)
  • South Dakota (SD)
  • Tennessee (TN)
  • Texas (TX)
  • Utah (UT)
  • Virginia (VA)
  • Vermont (VT)
  • Washington (WA)
  • Wisconsin (WI)
  • West Virginia (WV)
  • Wyoming (WY)

The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.

Conditions in the fire evidence

These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Recommends (2)

Listed without a rating (9)
Corroboration (9 rows from 1 source)
  • FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

    9 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.

    • Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.

      Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND.

      • “ignition frequency (%): 20”

        FLAMITS record 1499; Ignitability measurement.

      • “maximum sample temperature (°C): 180.5”

        FLAMITS record 1693; Combustibility measurement.

      • “burning duration (s): 0.4”

        FLAMITS record 1887; Sustainability measurement.

      • “estimated burnt biomass (%): 20”

        FLAMITS record 2081; Consumability measurement.

    • “calorific value (kcal/kg): 2101.84”

      FLAMITS record 2889; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Dibble2007-1; sampling ND. Primary study Dibble2007: Dibble, A. C., White, R. H., & Lebow, P. K. (2007). Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter: invasive versus non-invasive plants. International journal of wildland fire, 16, 426-443.

    • Primary study Padulles2018: Padullés-Cubino, J., Buckley, H. L., Day, N. J., Pieper, R., & Curran, T. J. (2018). Community-level flammability declines over 25 years of plant invasion in grasslands. Journal of Ecology, 106, 1582-1594.

      Shared row context: plant part whole plant; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Padulles2018-1; sampling 1982 to 2007.

      • “time to flaming (s): 8.1”

        FLAMITS record 10007; Ignitability measurement.

      • “maximum sample temperature (°C): 180.5”

        FLAMITS record 10058; Combustibility measurement.

      • “burning duration (s): 0.4”

        FLAMITS record 10109; Sustainability measurement.

      • “estimated burnt biomass (%): 20”

        FLAMITS record 10160; Consumability measurement.

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

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Rumex acetosella (Sheep sorrel). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/rumex-acetosella/. Last verified 2026-08-23.