Rumex mexicanus
Rumex bucephalophorus
Mexican dock, Mexican willow, Mexican willow or dock
horned, red, red dock, ruby dock
erect or ascending, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 30–60(–90) cm.
branched from base or near base, occasionally simple, slender, 5–50 cm.
blades light green to yellowish green, linear-lanceolate, occasionally lanceolate, 6–14 × 1–3.5(–4) cm, usually ca. 5–7 times as long as wide, widest near middle, thin, not coriaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, flat or undulate, apex acute or attenuate.
ocrea deciduous or partially persistent;
blade spatulate, lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 1–5(–8) × (0.5–)1–2.5 cm, base cuneate, rarely rounded, margins normally entire, flat, apex obtuse.
terminal and axillary, terminal usually occupying distal 1/5–1/3 of stem, rather dense or interrupted in proximal 1/2, usually broadly paniculate (branches simple or with few 2d-order branches).
terminal, simple, racemose, occupying most of stem, interrupted, linear.
articulated in proximal 1/3 or almost near base, filiform (thickened distally), 4–7 mm, not more than 2–2.5 times as long as inner tepals, articulation indistinctly swollen.
usually distinctly heteromorphic (much thickened distally), 4–7(–10) mm;
others less than 4 mm.
10–20 in whorls;
inner tepals broadly ovate-triangular, occasionally broadly triangular, 3.5–4.5(–5) × 3.5–4(–5) mm, base truncate or indistinctly cordate, margins entire or indistinctly erose, apex obtuse or subacute;
tubercles 3, equal or subequal (much narrower than inner tepals).
2–3(–4) in lax clusters (reduced whorls);
inner tepals variable, often heteromorphic, triangular, narrowly triangular, ligulate, or ovate-oblong, (1.5–)2–4(–5) × (0.5–)1–3 mm (excluding teeth), base truncate, margins usually dentate, sometimes entire, apex obtuse or acute, usually not hooked, teeth 2–4(–8), at each side of margins, slender, straight or hooked, 0.3–1 mm;
tubercles absent, or 3, usually represented by minute swellings barely recognizable as tubercles.
brown or dark reddish brown, 2–3 × 1.5–2 mm.
brown to dark brown, 1.3–2.3 × 0.7–1.4 mm.
= 40.
= 16.
Rumex mexicanus
Rumex bucephalophorus
Some authors recognize Rumex mexicanus in the broad sense, including in it many other taxa treated here as separate entities. For consistency, the entities of the R. salicifolius aggregate that are recognized herein are kept separate pending additional taxonomic research.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Rumex bucephalophorus is a polymorphic species, especially within its native range. K. H. Rechinger (1939, 1964) and J. R. Press (1988) recognized several subspecies, but no attempt has been made to distinguish infraspecific taxa among the limited North American materials. This species occurs in the flora area as an uncommon, casual alien. It has the potential to naturalize in the southern United States, especially in coastal regions from the Carolinas to Texas, and in California.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
