Rumex hastatulus
Rumex pallidus
heartwing dock, heartwing sorrel, wild dock, wild sorrel
seabeach dock, seaside dock, seaside or pale willow dock
solitary or several from base, erect or ascending, branched in distal 2/3 (in inflorescence), 10–40(–45) cm.
ascending or erect occasionally almost procumbent, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 30–60(–80) 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.
blades linear-lanceolate, 10–20(–22) × 1–3.5(–4.5) mm, usually ca. 7–10 times as long as wide, widest near middle, thick, coriaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, flat or slightly undulate, apex acute.
terminal, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted, narrowly paniculate.
terminal and axillary, terminal usually occupying distal 1/5–1/3 of stem, rather dense or interrupted in proximal 1/2, usually broadly paniculate (distal branches simple, proximal ones usually with few 2d-order branches).
articulated in proximal part, filiform, 1.5–2.5(–3) mm, articulation indistinct or slightly swollen.
articulated in proximal 1/3 or almost near base, filiform, 4–6 mm, not more than 2–2.5 times as long as inner tepals, articulation indistinctly 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.
10–20 in whorls;
inner tepals, broadly ovate-triangular or almost deltoid, occasionally broadly triangular, (2.5–)3–4 × 2–3.5 mm, base truncate or round, occasionally indistinctly cordate, margins entire or indistinctly erose, apex obtuse or subacute;
tubercles 3, equal or subequal, all tubercles, or at least largest tubercle pale, subequal to inner tepals or slightly narrower than inner tepals, often minutely verrucose.
brown or dark brown, 0.9–1.2 × 0.6–0.8 mm.
brown or dark reddish brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm.
= 8 (pistillate plants), 9 (staminate plants), 10 (both sexes).
= 20.
Rumex hastatulus
Rumex pallidus
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 pallidus is restricted to northeastern North America. Specimens with more “strict habit, larger leaves, and more erect fruiting branches” reported by K. H. Rechinger (1937) from Alaska and Yukon as this species belong instead to R. sibiricus (E. Hultén 1941–1950, vol. 4). Those species, as well as R. subarcticus and R. hultenii Tzvelev, represent a rather natural northern group of the R. salicifolius aggregate. The hybrid R. pallidus × R. triangulivalvis was reported from the western part of New York (R. S. Mitchell 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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