Rumex hastatulus
Rumex arcticus
heartwing dock, heartwing sorrel, wild dock, wild sorrel
arctic dock
solitary or several from base, erect or ascending, branched in distal 2/3 (in inflorescence), 10–40(–45) cm.
erect, simple or branched in distal 2/3 (then with few, comparatively short branches), 10–70(–100) cm.
blade obovate-oblong, ovate-lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate; 2–6(–10) × 0.5–2 cm, base hastate (with spreading lobes), auriculate, or occasionally without evident lobes, margins entire, flat, apex obtuse or subacute.
ocrea deciduous or partially persistent at maturity;
blade narrowly lanceolate, lanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate, normally 5–15(–20) × 1.5–5 cm, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, rarely truncate or very weakly cordate, margins entire or rarely indistinctly repand, flat, apex acute or subacute.
terminal, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted, narrowly paniculate.
terminal, occupying distal 1/2–2/3 of stem, interrupted, paniculate, simple or nearly so (branches, when present usually less than 7–8 cm).
articulated in proximal part, filiform, 1.5–2.5(–3) mm, articulation indistinct or slightly swollen.
articulated in proximal 1/3, filiform, 5–13(–17) mm, usually not more than 2–2.5 times as long as inner tepals, articulation weakly evident, not swollen.
3–6(–8) in whorls;
inner tepals orbiculate or broadly ovate, 2.5–3.2 × 2.7–3.2 mm, base broadly cordate or rounded, apex obtuse or subacute;
tubercles absent or some inner tepals with slightly swollen central veins.
7–15 in whorls;
inner tepals ovate, 4.5–7.5(–8) × 4–6(–7) mm, base truncate to weakly cordate, margins entire, apex obtuse or subacute;
tubercles absent.
brown or dark brown, 0.9–1.2 × 0.6–0.8 mm.
reddish brown, 3–4 × 1.5–2 mm.
= 8 (pistillate plants), 9 (staminate plants), 10 (both sexes).
= 40, 120, ca. 170, ca. 200.
Rumex hastatulus
Rumex arcticus
Rumex hastatulus is distinct in subg. Acetosa and belongs to the monotypic subsect. Americanae Á. Löve & N. Sarkar. It is represented by at least two chromosome races: populations occurring from North Carolina to Florida and Mississippi normally have 2n = 8 in pistillate plants and 2n = 9 in staminate plants; populations from Louisiana to Texas and Oklahoma predominantly have 2n = 10 in both sexes. Rumex hastatulus has been reported from New Mexico (W. C. Martin and C. R. Hutchins 1980, vol. 1), but those records need confirmation. When fruiting, R. hastatulus has large inner tepals that distinguish it from R. acetosella, with which it is occasionally confused.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Rumex arcticus is polymorphic, as are R. aquaticus in the narrow sense and R. occidentalis. However, unlike R. aquaticus and R. occidentalus, it is represented by at least two chromosome races (G. A. Mulligan and C. Frankton 1972; Á. Löve 1986). Plants morphologically transitional between R. arcticus and R. aquaticus were described from Kamchatka as R. kamtschadalus (= R. arcticus var. kamtschadalus). The same forms occasionally occur in northwestern North America. According to Á. Löve and D. Löve (1975b) and Á. Löve (1986), they are usually tetraploids (2n = 40) and deserve recognition at the species level. However, they are not always morphologically distinct from R. arcticus. The group needs additional study, and at present I prefer to keep the tetraploid plants provisionally within R. arcticus, regarding them as var. kamtschadalus.
A few highly sterile specimens with mostly abortive flowers, which I have seen in Alaskan herbarium material, most probably represent hybrids between tetraploid and 12-ploid races of the R. aquaticus group.
Plants with unusually wide, triangular-oblong, or almost ovate leaves were described as var. latifolius Tolmatchew. This seems to be a predominant variety on the Beringian coast of Chukotka and Wrangel and Ratmanov islands (A. I. Tolmachew 1966). I also have seen at least two collections of this variety from the western coast of Alaska. The enigmatic var. perlatus Hultén may belong here (see discussion under 8. R. lapponicus).
Rumex arcticus has been reported from Churchill in northeastern Manitoba (H. J. Scoggan 1978–1979, part 3). That record needs confirmation because some northern forms of R. arcticus and R. occidentalis are similar.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
IL Wildflowers
KS Wildflowers
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
PNW Herbaria
