Rumex obtusifolius |
Rumex subg. Rumex |
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bitter dock, broad-leaf dock, broad-leaf or broadleaf or bitter dock, patience a feuilles obtuses |
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Habit | Plants perennial, glabrous or ± papillose especially on veins of leaf blades abaxially, with fusiform, vertical rootstock. | Plants synoecious (rarely polygamodioecious or dioecious individuals occur in some species). |
Stems | erect, branched distal to middle or occasionally in distal 2/3, often with few flowering stems from rootstock, 60–120(–150) cm. |
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Leaves | ocrea deciduous to partially persistent at maturity; blade oblong to ovate-oblong, sometimes broadly ovate, 20–40 × 10–15 cm, usually less than 4 times as long as wide, base normally distinctly cordate, occasionally rounded, rarely truncate, margins normally entire, flat or undulate, rarely slightly crisped, apex obtuse or subacute. |
blades variable, cuneate, truncate, rounded, or cordate at base, but never hastate or sagittate, unlobed or in some species with rounded basal lobes. |
Inflorescences | terminal, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted, narrowly or broadly paniculate, branches usually forming angle of 30–45° with 1st-order stem. |
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Pedicels | articulated in proximal 1/3 or rarely near middle, filiform, 2.5–8.5(–10) mm, articulation distinctly swollen. |
articulated near middle or in proximal part (sometimes articulation indistinct). |
Flowers | 10–25 in lax whorls; inner tepals ovate-triangular, deltoid or, occasionally, lingulate, 3–6 × 2–3.5 mm (excluding teeth), ca. 1.5–2 times as long as wide, base truncate, margins usually distinctly dentate, rarely subentire, apex obtuse to subacute, straight, teeth 2–5, normally at each side of margin, short-subulate or triangular-subulate, straight, 0.5–1.8 mm, or shorter than width of inner tepals; tubercle usually 1, sometimes 3, then 1 distinctly larger, smooth. |
normally bisexual or, sometimes, bisexual and unisexual (staminate and pistillate on same plant) within same inflorescence; outer tepals normally angled towards inner tepals, or sometimes spreading; inner tepals distinctly enlarged, always distinctly wider and longer than achene; tubercles present or absent. |
Achenes | brown to reddish brown, 2–2.7 × 1.2–1.7 mm. |
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2n | = 40. |
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Rumex obtusifolius |
Rumex subg. Rumex |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–early fall. | |
Habitat | Waste places, roadsides, fields, shores, meadows, wet woods, swamps | |
Elevation | 0-2300 m (0-7500 ft) | |
Distribution |
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM; Greenland; Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced elsewhere]
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Nearly wordwide |
Discussion | Rumex obtusifolius, a member of subsect. Obtusifolii Rechinger f. (K. H. Rechinger 1937), is a polymorphic species represented in Eurasia by three or four rather distinct races often treated by European authors as subspecies or varieties. These taxa differ mostly in inner tepal dentation and geographic distribution. In North America the morphotypes often intergrade. In Eurasia this species is differentiated into predominantly western subsp. obtusifolius [including R. obtusifolius subsp. agrestis (Fries) Danser], eastern subsp. sylvestris (Wallroth) Rechinger f., intermediate central European subsp. transiens (Simonkai) Rechinger f., and montane subsp. subalpinus (Schur) Simonkai. Only subspp. obtusifolius and sylvestris occur in North America; the former seems to be more common. Subspecies obtusifolius differs from subsp. sylvestris in having larger and more prominently dentate inner tepals with one tubercle, or with three distinctly unequal tubercles; in subsp. sylvestris the teeth are usually less than 0.6 mm, developing only near the base of the inner tepals, and the tubercles often almost subequal. Rumex obtusifolius may be expected elsewhere in the Great Plains region of the United States and Canada. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species at least 150 (53 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 526. | FNA vol. 5, p. 504. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Rumex | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. crispatulus, R. rugelii | subg. Lapathum, R. section Lapathum, R. subg. Lapathum |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 335. (1753) | unknown |
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