These plants are annual or perennial. The leaves are divided into three to ten or more obovate and top-notched leaflets, arranged palmately with all the leaflets of roughly equal size. The majority of species have three leaflets; in these species, the leaves are superficially similar to those of some clovers.^[4] Some species exhibit rapid changes in leaf angle in response to temporarily high light intensity to decrease photoinhibition.^[5]

The flowers have five petals, which are usually fused at the base, and ten stamens. The petal color varies from white to pink, red or yellow;^[6] anthocyanins and xanthophylls may be present or absent but are generally not both present together in significant quantities, meaning that few wood-sorrels have bright orange flowers. The fruit is a small capsule containing several seeds. The roots are often tuberous and succulent, and several species also reproduce vegetatively by production of bulbils, which detach to produce new plants.