Rumex mexicanus
Rumex thyrsiflorus
Mexican dock, Mexican willow, Mexican willow or dock
compact dock, garden sorrel, grande oseille thyrsiflore, narrow-leaf sorrel, thyrse sorrel
erect or ascending, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 30–60(–90) cm.
usually erect, several from base, or occasionally solitary, branched in distal 1/2 (in inflorescence), (30–)40–100(–130) 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 often with fringed margins;
blade oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3–12(–15) × 1–3(–5) cm, usually more than 4 times as long as wide, base sagittate or sometimes hastate (with acute lobes directed downward, ± parallel to petiole, or often reflexed outward), margins entire to obscurely and irregularly repand, usually crisped and undulate, occasionally flat, apex acute.
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 1/3 of stem, usually dense, or interrupted in proximal part, broadly paniculate, pyramidal (1st-order branches usually repeatedly branched, with numerous 2d-order branches).
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 near middle, filiform, 2–6(–7) mm, articulation distinct.
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).
(3–)4–8(–12) in whorls;
inner tepals orbiculate, occasionally broadly ovate, 2.5–3.5(–4) × 2.5–3.5 mm, base rounded, truncate, or slightly cordate, apex obtuse;
tubercles small or occasionally absent.
brown or dark reddish brown, 2–3 × 1.5–2 mm.
black or dark brown, 1.5–1.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm, normally smooth.
= 40.
= 14 (pistillate plants), 15 (staminate plants).
Rumex mexicanus
Rumex thyrsiflorus
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 thyrsiflorus is commonly misidentified as R. acetosa. The growth habit (stout, vertical rootstock), narrower, often undulate leaves with often slightly spreading basal lobes (however, some European specimens have the lobes of distal and middle cauline leaves curved inward), and pyramidal, usually much-branched panicle of R. thyrsiflorus are traits especially useful for field identification. In addition, the inner tepals of R. thyrsiflorus are distinctly smaller than those of R. acetosa. The southern European (Mediterranean) race of R. thyrsiflorus, characterized by narrower leaves with more spreading, almost hastate basal lobes and fruiting inner tepals less cordate at the base, is sometimes recognized as R. intermedius de Candolle [= Acetosa thyrsiflora subsp. intermedia (de Candolle) Á. Löve]. The same forms occasionally occur in North America (Á. Löve 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
MI Flora
