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spiral tall dock, wing dock

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

Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Sandy and gravelly shores
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[BONAP county map]
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 Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Axillares
Sibling taxa
R. acetosa, R. acetosella, R. alpinus, R. altissimus, R. arcticus, R. beringensis, R. britannica, R. brownii, R. bucephalophorus, R. californicus, R. chrysocarpus, R. confertus, R. conglomeratus, R. crassus, R. crispus, R. cristatus, R. cuneifolius, R. densiflorus, R. dentatus, R. ellipticus, R. fascicularis, R. floridanus, R. fueginus, R. graminifolius, R. hastatulus, R. hesperius, R. hymenosepalus, R. kerneri, R. krausei, R. lacustris, R. lapponicus, R. longifolius, R. maritimus, R. mexicanus, R. nematopodus, R. obovatus, R. obtusifolius, R. occidentalis, R. orthoneurus, R. pallidus, R. palustris, R. paraguayensis, R. patientia, R. paucifolius, R. persicarioides, R. praecox, R. pseudonatronatus, R. pulcher, R. pycnanthus, R. salicifolius, R. sanguineus, R. sibiricus, R. stenophyllus, R. subarcticus, R. thyrsiflorus, R. tomentellus, R. transitorius, R. triangulivalvis, R. utahensis, R. venosus, R. verticillatus, R. violascens
Name authority Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 22: 44, plate 228. (1895)
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