Rumex hastatulus
Rumex paucifolius
heartwing dock, heartwing sorrel, wild dock, wild sorrel
alpine sheep sorrel, alpine sorrel, few leaf dock, mountain sorrel
solitary or several from base, erect or ascending, branched in distal 2/3 (in inflorescence), 10–40(–45) cm.
erect, rarely ascending, tufted at base and branched only in inflorescence, occasionally inflorescences simple or nearly so, 10–40(–60) 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.
blade normally broadly lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, usually not hastate (without basal lobes), 3–7(–10) × (0.6–)1–3(–4) cm, base narrowly cuneate (gradually narrowing into petiole), margins entire, flat, apex obtuse or subacute.
terminal, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted, narrowly paniculate.
terminal, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted at least near base, narrowly paniculate, rarely simple.
articulated in proximal part, filiform, 1.5–2.5(–3) mm, articulation indistinct or slightly swollen.
articulated in proximal 1/3, filiform, 1–3(–5) mm, articulation slightly 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.
3–10(–12) in whorls;
inner tepals broadly ovate or almost orbiculate, 2.8–3.8 × 2.7–3.6 mm, base cordate or rounded-truncate, apex obtuse or subacute;
tubercles absent.
brown or dark brown, 0.9–1.2 × 0.6–0.8 mm.
brown, 1.2–1.8 × 0.8–1 mm.
= 8 (pistillate plants), 9 (staminate plants), 10 (both sexes).
= 14, 28.
Rumex hastatulus
Rumex paucifolius
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 paucifolius is a montane species represented by two chromosome races (diploid and tetraploid) and several ecotypes. Smaller plants from California have been described as var. gracilescens; they are tetraploids and sometimes were regarded as a separate species (Á. Löve and V. Everson 1967; Löve 1986). B. W. Smith (1968) showed that both diploids and tetraploids (and even exceptional spontaneous triploids and individuals with higher polyploid chromosome numbers) occur in many other localities within the range of the species; the differences in chromosome number are not strictly correlated with distribution or morphology. Narrow-leaved ecotypes of R. paucifolius reported by Smith sometimes resemble other narrow-leaved taxa of subg. Acetosella, especially R. beringensis. Rumex paucifolius and R. beringensis may be regarded as morphologically and karyologically transitional between subg. Acetosella and subg. Acetosa. Rumex paucifolius was placed in the monotypic subsect. Paucifoliae Á. Löve & N. Sarkar. Later, Löve transferred it to the segregate genus Acetosella, based mostly on the chromosome number of the species, but morphology suggests it is a member of subg. Acetosa. Probably the best solution of this problem was proposed by Smith, who noted that “the composite range of vegetative, reproductive, and karyotypic characteristics of the forty-odd species now included in the diversified subgenus Acetosa would be only slightly extended by the addition of the five species now classified as Acetosella” (p. 683).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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