A small, delicate and very beautiful flower! It doesn't look at all like the Common Sorrel, but it shares a similar sweet/sour taste with that less beautiful plant. It grows in woods and hedges - often along the moss growing on tree branches. As we move towards Easter the clumps of Wood Sorrel leaves begin to appear, followed by the green-veined white flowers between Easter and Whitsun.

A PLANT OF PRAISE

One of the commonest popular names of this plant is 'Alleluia'. As the Northumbrian botanist William Turner explained, in 1586, this is because "it appeareth about Easter when Alleluya is song again". In the Middle Ages the word 'Hallelujah' was dropped, during the season of Lent, whenever it appeared in a psalm.

'Hallelujah' means in Hebrew, 'Praise the Lord'. Psalms 111 to 118 in the Bible are known as the 'Hallelujah Psalms' because that word is used throughout them. At the Jewish feast of Passover, Psalms 113 and 114 are sung before the meal and Psalms 115-118 after the meal. Matthew tells us that after Jesus and his disciples had had their Last Supper together, they sang a psalm (Matthew 26: 30). Presumably the last song Jesus sang was Psalm 118. It begins:


'Give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
His love endures for ever.'

And it includes words which were later taken by Christians to be a prophecy of Jesus' own resurrection:

'The stone the builders rejected,
Has become the cornerstone;
The Lord has done this,
And it is marvellous in our eyes.'


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