Rumex mexicanus |
Rumex conglomeratus |
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Mexican dock, Mexican willow, Mexican willow or dock |
cluster dock, cluster or cluster green dock, green dock, sharp dock |
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Habit | Plants perennial, glabrous; with vertical rootstock, occasionally with short, creeping rhizomes. | Plants perennial, normally glabrous, rarely very indistinctly papillose on veins of leaf blades abaxially, with fusiform, vertical rootstock. |
Stems | erect or ascending, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 30–60(–90) cm. |
erect, branched in distal 2/3 (sometimes with few flowering stems from rootstock), 30–80(–120) cm. |
Leaves | 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 to partially persistent at maturity; blade oblong-lanceolate, obovate-lanceolate, or lanceolate, normally (5–)10–30 × 2.5–6 cm, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or truncate, rarely subcordate, margins entire, flat to very weakly undulate, apex subacute, occasionally obtuse. |
Inflorescences | 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, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, lax, interrupted, broadly paniculate, branches simple or nearly so, almost all but distalmost whorls with subtending leaves; panicle leafy at least in proximal 2/3 of length. |
Pedicels | 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. |
articulated in proximal 1/3 or occasionally near middle, filiform, 1–4(–5) mm, ca. as long as inner tepals or slightly longer, articulation distinctly swollen. |
Flowers | 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). |
10–20 in dense remote whorls; inner tepals oblong-lanceolate, oblong, or lingulate, 2–3 × 1–1.6(–2) mm, ca. 2 times as long as wide, base cuneate or truncate, margins entire, apex obtuse; tubercles 3, equal or subequal, largest tubercle almost as wide as inner tepal. |
Achenes | brown or dark reddish brown, 2–3 × 1.5–2 mm. |
usually dark reddish brown, 1.5–1.8 × 1–1.4 mm. |
2n | = 40. |
= 20. |
Rumex mexicanus |
Rumex conglomeratus |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer. | Flowering early summer–early fall. |
Habitat | Shores of streams and rivers, wet meadows | Marshes, wet meadows, shores, alluvial woods, ditches, wet waste places |
Elevation | 1000 m (3300 ft) | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) |
Distribution |
NM; Mexico
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AL; AR; AZ; CA; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MO; MS; NC; NY; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WA; WV; BC; Europe; w Asia; sw Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced elsewhere]
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Discussion | 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 conglomeratus often is confused with immature specimens of R. obtusifolius, as well as with other species (e.g., R. sanguineus). Its distribution in North America is insufficiently known, and some literature records may refer to R. obtusifolius. Rumex conglomeratus and R. sanguineus were placed in subsect. Conglomerati Rechinger f. (K. H. Rechinger 1937). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 511. | FNA vol. 5, p. 524. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Axillares | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Rumex |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. acutus | |
Name authority | Meisner: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 45. (1856) | Murray: Prodr. Stirp. Gott., 52. (1770) |
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