Oseille Rouge - Red Sorrel - Such a Beautiful Thing!

I thought this would be a quick and easy post to write, but after trying to find the botanical name of this plant on-line, it proved to be quite a project.  The plant above, with its shiny crinkly green leaves and deep blood-red veining, were the happy result of a French seed packet brought back to me from Europe by one of David Kinch's cooks, J.P.   The seed packet says "Oseille Rouge" on it.  "Oseille," pronounced "Oh-Zehy," means "Sorrel" in French. 

I've been propagating it for Manresa and Chef Kinch for months now, and most of it doesn't make it big enough to plant out in the garden.  Not because it dies, or it's not the season, but because Chef loves using it small, straight out of the seed tray.  I insisted on saving some from the last batch to plant out in the garden, and this was the day to do it.  I had to choose a place that it could stay for years to come, because my knowledge of its supposed sister plant, green sorrel, is that it's a perennial, and will last for years well tended in perpetually damp soil.  Here's what regular sorrel, often called French Sorrel, botanical name, Rumex Acetosa, looks like:

I wanted to include the botanical name of the Oseille Rouge here, but like I said, when I started researching it, I found that there are as many different kinds of sorrel as there are paparazzi hounding Britney Spears. I spent way too much time looking at images of what purported to be Red Sorrel (none matched the plant I'm growing) and found out that the synonyms of Red Sorrel are as diverse as Bloody Dock, Sheep's Sorrel, Jamaican sorrel, Roselle, Rozelle, Hibiscus Sabdariffa, and Rumex Sanguineus.  Whew! 

I even went to the source, the seed company that packaged the seed, Graines Voltz.  They list it on their French website, but do not list a botanical name.  At least I know where to go when I need more of it.  The great thing about European seed packets is that you get a lot of seeds, much more than in our stingy American packets.

Regular green French Sorrel, is a fabulous herb/salad green.  It's one of the things that I have people taste when I'm showing them the garden.  They are amazed at it's very lemony flavor.  The Oseille Rouge is similarly flavored, but much prettier.

So alas, we have it, and you can eat it at Manresa, but if you want to grow this beauty yourself, you'll have to order the seed of Oseille Rouge from Graines Voltz yourself.  Good luck with the French translation!  If any of you know for sure, without a doubt, no foolin' what the true botanical name of this is, and where I can get it here in the States, I'd love to hear from you!  Update:  As you can see in the comments, we got it sorted out.  It is indeed Rumex Sanguineus, and it's available from Johnny's Seeds.  They call it "Red Veined Sorrel," but they also list the botanical name underneath it.  Here is a new shot I took of the babies that the chef likes to use: