Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex utahensis
bitter dock, broad-leaf dock, broad-leaf or broadleaf or bitter dock, patience a feuilles obtuses
tooth willow dock, Utah 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 erect, occasionally ascending, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 15–40(–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 lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 6–15 × 2–3 cm, usually ca. 4–5 times as long as wide, widest near middle or slightly towards base, usually thin, base cuneate, margin entire, flat, rarely indistinctly undulate, 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, dense or occasionally slightly interrupted at base, usually broadly paniculate (branches normally simple and crowded).
articulated in proximal 1/3 or rarely near middle, filiform, 2.5–8.5(–10) mm, articulation distinctly swollen.
articulated in proximal 1/3 or almost near base, filiform (but thickened distally), 4–7 mm, not more than 2–2.5 times as long as inner tepals, articulation indistinctly or evidently 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.
10–25 in whorls;
inner tepals deltoid or broadly ovate-deltoid, 2.5–3 × 2.5–3 mm, base truncate or indistinctly cordate, margins entire, apex acute, rarely subacute;
tubercles absent.
brown to reddish brown, 2–2.7 × 1.2–1.7 mm.
dark reddish brown or almost black, 1.8–2 × 1–1.3 mm.
= 40.
= 40.
Rumex obtusifolius
Rumex utahensis
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.)
The names Rumex mexicanus and R. salicifolius in the broad sense often have been applied to R. utahensis.
Records of “narrow-leaved forms” of Rumex utahensis from Yukon (E. Hultén 1968) probably refer to R. hultenii Tzvelev (see comments under 27. R. sibiricus) or R. sibiricus in the narrow sense.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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