Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex thyrsiflorus
bitter dock, broad-leaf dock, broad-leaf or broadleaf or bitter dock, patience a feuilles obtuses
compact dock, garden sorrel, grande oseille thyrsiflore, narrow-leaf sorrel, thyrse sorrel
erect, branched distal to middle or occasionally in distal 2/3, often with few flowering stems from rootstock, 60–120(–150) cm.
usually erect, several from base, or occasionally solitary, branched in distal 1/2 (in inflorescence), (30–)40–100(–130) cm.
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.
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, 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.
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 rarely near middle, filiform, 2.5–8.5(–10) mm, articulation distinctly swollen.
articulated near middle, filiform, 2–6(–7) mm, articulation distinct.
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.
(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 to reddish brown, 2–2.7 × 1.2–1.7 mm.
black or dark brown, 1.5–1.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm, normally smooth.
= 40.
= 14 (pistillate plants), 15 (staminate plants).
Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex thyrsiflorus
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.)
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.)
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