Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex brownii
bitter dock, broad-leaf dock, broad-leaf or broadleaf or bitter dock, patience a feuilles obtuses
Brown's dock
erect, branched distal to middle or occasionally in distal 2/3, often with few flowering stems from rootstock, 60–120(–150) cm.
erect or ascending, divaricately branched in distal 1/2–2/3, 30–80(–100) 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 deciduous or partially persistent;
blade shape variable, oblong to lanceolate or lanceolate-linear, often panduriform, contracted near or proximal middle, (3–)5–15(–17) × 1–3(–5) cm, base truncate, slightly cordate, or broadly cuneate, margins entire, normally slightly undulate and crisped, apex acute or subobtuse.
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 2/3 or most of stem, lax, interrupted in proximal part or throughout, broadly paniculate, branches spreading.
articulated in proximal 1/3 or rarely near middle, filiform, 2.5–8.5(–10) mm, articulation distinctly swollen.
articulated in proximal 1/3, filiform (occasionally thickened distally), 2.5–5 mm, usually as long as or slightly longer than inner tepals, articulation distinctly swollen.
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.
5–8(–10) in rather lax remote whorls;
inner tepals broadly to narrowly triangular, 2.5–4 × 1.5–2.3 mm (excluding teeth), base truncate or broadly cuneate, margins prominently dentate, apex acute and ending in hooked tooth, teeth 3–5, at each side of margins, hooked, 0.5–1.5 mm;
tubercles absent, or midveins indistinctly swollen.
brown to reddish brown, 2–2.7 × 1.2–1.7 mm.
reddish brown, 1.8–2.3 × 1.2–1.5 mm.
= 40.
= 20.
Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex brownii
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 brownii, an uncommon “wool alien” in North America, was collected in South Carolina in the late 1950s (J. E. Dawson 1979). It is uncertain if it persists there. It occasionally occurs in Europe as a casual alien. This species is a member of subsect. Acrancistron Rechinger f. (see K. H. Rechinger 1984), which includes two Australian species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
LA Plants, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
