Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex subarcticus
bitter dock, broad-leaf dock, broad-leaf or broadleaf or bitter dock, patience a feuilles obtuses
subarctic or subarctic willow dock
erect, branched distal to middle or occasionally in distal 2/3, often with few flowering stems from rootstock, 60–120(–150) cm.
usually procumbent, rarely ascending, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 30–60 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.
blades narrowly linear-lanceolate, 6–17 × 1–3 cm, usually ca. 7–10 times as long as wide, widest near middle, usually thick, not coriaceous or subcoriaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, usually strongly undulate and/or crenulate, 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 and axillary, terminal usually occupying distal 1/5–1/3 of stem, rather dense towards apex, distinctly interrupted in proximal 1/2, usually broadly paniculate (branches almost at right angles to main axis, simple or with few 2d-order branches).
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, 4–7 mm, not more than 2–2.5 times as long as inner tepals, articulation slightly 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.
10–20 in whorls;
inner tepals, broadly deltoid or deltoid-ovate, 3–4 × 3.2–4(–4.5) mm, base truncate, margins entire or indistinctly crenulate, apex obtuse or subacute;
tubercles absent, rarely small and indistinct.
brown to reddish brown, 2–2.7 × 1.2–1.7 mm.
brown or dark reddish brown, 2–3 × 1.5–2 mm.
= 40.
= 20.
Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex subarcticus
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.)
Some specimens of Rumex subarcticus have well-developed tubercles similar to those of R. pallidus (N. M. Sarkar 1958), to which it is closely related and of which it may be regarded as a northwestern subspecies or variety (see Á. Löve 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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