Rumex spiralis |
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spiral tall dock, wing dock |
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Habit | Plants perennial, glabrous, with creeping rhizomes. |
Stems | ascending or erect, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 50–90 cm. |
Leaf | blades ovate-lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate, 10–15 × 3–5.5 cm, usually 2.5–3.5 times as long as wide, widest in proximal 1/3, thick, usually not coriaceous, base broadly cuneate, truncate, or rounded, margins entire, flat or slightly undulate-crisped, apex acute or attenuate. |
Inflorescences | terminal and axillary, terminal usually occupying distal 1/2 of stem, dense, narrowly to broadly paniculate (branches usually simple). |
Pedicels | articulated in proximal 1/3, thin but slightly thickened distally, (2–)3–7(–8) mm, usually as long as or shorter than inner tepals, articulation slightly swollen. |
Flowers | 12–20 in whorls; inner tepals broadly cordate or broadly ovate-deltoid, 7–10 × 8–12 mm, base deeply and broadly cordate, margins entire, apex acuminate; tubercles 3, equal or subequal, usually minutely to distinctly rugose. |
Achenes | brown or dark reddish brown, 2.5–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm. |
2n | = 20. |
Rumex spiralis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Sandy and gravelly shores |
Elevation | 0-200 m (0-700 ft) |
Distribution |
TX |
Discussion | Rumex spiralis is related to R. altissimus; however, it is geographically restricted and morphologically distinct. It has inner tepals larger than those of any other member of subsect. Salicifolii and distinctly wider leaves. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 507. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 22: 44, plate 228. (1895) |
Web links |