Rumex hastatulus |
Rumex densiflorus |
|
---|---|---|
heartwing dock, heartwing sorrel, wild dock, wild sorrel |
dense-flower dock |
|
Habit | Plants annual or short-lived perennial, glabrous, with vertical rootstock. | Plants perennial, glabrous or indistinctly papillose-pubescent, with creeping horizontal rhizome. |
Stems | solitary or several from base, erect or ascending, branched in distal 2/3 (in inflorescence), 10–40(–45) cm. |
erect, branched above middle (only in inflorescence), 50–100 cm. |
Leaves | 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 with large lateral veins alternating with short ones, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 30–40(–50) × 10–12 cm, more than 3 times as long as wide, base broadly cuneate, truncate, or weakly cordate, margins entire or indistinctly repand, flat, apex obtuse or broadly acute. |
Inflorescences | terminal, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted, narrowly paniculate. |
terminal, occupying distal 1/2 of stem, usually dense, narrowly paniculate. |
Pedicels | articulated in proximal part, filiform, 1.5–2.5(–3) mm, articulation indistinct or slightly swollen. |
articulated in proximal 1/3, filiform, 6–16 mm, articulation indistinct. |
Flowers | 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. |
10–20 in whorls; inner tepals ovate-triangular or subcordate, 5–6 × 4.5–6 mm, widest at or near middle, base weakly emarginate, margins entire, erose, or indistinctly denticulate mostly at base, apex abruptly narrowed, acute or subacute; tubercles absent. |
Achenes | brown or dark brown, 0.9–1.2 × 0.6–0.8 mm. |
deep brown to reddish brown, 2.5–4(–4.5) × 1.8–2.5 mm. |
2n | = 8 (pistillate plants), 9 (staminate plants), 10 (both sexes). |
= 120. |
Rumex hastatulus |
Rumex densiflorus |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | Flowering late spring–early summer. |
Habitat | Dry to moist alluvial and ruderal habitats, river valleys, sandy plains, meadows, waste places | Along streams and rivers in montane, subalpine, and alpine zones |
Elevation | 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) | 1500-3000(-3500) m (4900-9800(-11500) ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NY; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA
|
CO; NM; WY
|
Discussion | 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.) |
The following three species are closely related to Rumex densiflorus, all belonging to subsect. Densiflori Rechinger f., and possibly form one polymorphic “macrospecies” (K. H. Rechinger 1937). Á. Löve (1986) treated R. orthoneurus and R. pycnanthus as subspecies of R. densiflorus. However, the variability of this aggregate is insufficiently known, and I prefer to treat it as consisting of four “microspecies.” Rumex densiflorus is reported from northwestern New Mexico (W. C. Martin and C. R. Hutchins 1980), where it most probably occurs; records for southern Idaho (R. J. Davis 1952) and Arizona (J. H. Lehr 1978) need confirmation. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 502. | FNA vol. 5, p. 515. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Acetosa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Rumex |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Acetosa hastatula, R. engelmannii | R. polyrrhizus |
Name authority | Baldwin: in S. Elliott, Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 416. (1817) | Osterhout: Erythea 6: 13. (1898) |
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