Rumex mexicanus |
Rumex pulcher |
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Mexican dock, Mexican willow, Mexican willow or dock |
fiddle dock, fiddleleaf dock |
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Habit | Plants perennial, glabrous; with vertical rootstock, occasionally with short, creeping rhizomes. | Plants perennial, glabrous or distinctly papillose especially 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, often flexuous in distal part, branched in distal 2/3, occasionally almost from base, 20–60(–70) 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 or partially persistent at maturity; blade oblong to ovate-oblong, sometimes broadly lanceolate or panduriform, contracted near middle or proximally, 4–10(–15) × (2–)3–5 cm, less than 4 times as long as wide, base normally truncate or weakly cordate, occasionally rounded, margins entire, flat or undulate, rarely slightly crisped, apex obtuse or subacute. |
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 or more, usually lax and interrupted, broadly paniculate, branches usually divaricately spreading, forming angle of 60–90° with 1st-order stem. |
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, thickened, not filiform, 2–5(–6) mm, 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 rather dense whorls; inner tepals ovate-triangular, deltoid, or oblong-deltoid, 3–6 × 2–3 mm (excluding teeth), normally ca. 1.5 times as long as wide, base truncate, margins usually distinctly dentate, rarely subentire, apex obtuse to subacute, straight, teeth 2–5(–9), normally on margins at each side, narrowly triangular, 0.3–2.5 mm, longer or shorter than width of inner tepals; tubercles (1–)3, equal or unequal, usually verrucose (warty). |
Achenes | brown or dark reddish brown, 2–3 × 1.5–2 mm. |
dark reddish brown to almost black, 2–2.8 × 1.3–2 mm. |
2n | = 40. |
= 20. |
Rumex mexicanus |
Rumex pulcher |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer. | Flowering late spring–summer. |
Habitat | Shores of streams and rivers, wet meadows | Waste places, roadsides, shores, fields, meadows, moist to dry habitats |
Elevation | 1000 m (3300 ft) | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) |
Distribution |
NM; Mexico
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AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NV; NY; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; s Europe; w Europe; 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 pulcher is an extremely polymorphic species consisting of five or six more or less distinct subspecies (K. H. Rechinger 1949, 1964). Three of these were reported by Rechinger (1937) from North America: subsp. pulcher; subsp. woodsii (De Not.) Arcangeli [= Rumex divaricatus Linnaeus]; and subsp. anodontus (Haussknecht) Rechinger f. Judging from herbarium specimens, subsp. woodsii seems to be the most common. However, J. E. Dawson (1979) noted that many North American specimens cannot easily be assigned to any subspecies. Some records require confirmation, especially from the midwestern states, since Rumex pulcher often is confused with other species with dentate inner tepals. Records from Colorado (H. D. Harrington 1954) belong to R. stenophyllus (W. A. Weber and R. C. Wittmann 1992). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 511. | FNA vol. 5, p. 526. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Axillares | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Rumex |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Meisner: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 45. (1856) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 336. (1753) |
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