Rumex spiralis
Rumex sect. Axillares
spiral tall dock, wing dock
ascending or erect, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 50–90 cm.
erect, ascending, procumbent, or decumbent, normally with regular, leafy axillary shoots that tend to develop 2d-order axillary inflorescences (often overtopping 1st-order ones).
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.
blades mostly lanceolate, elliptic, ovate-lanceolate, or ovate-elliptic, base cuneate, or in some species broadly cuneate, rounded, truncate-cuneate, or indistinctly cordate.
terminal and axillary, terminal usually occupying distal 1/2 of stem, dense, narrowly to broadly paniculate (branches usually simple).
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.
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.
with margins entire, rarely minutely erose-denticulate.
brown or dark reddish brown, 2.5–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm.
= 20.
Rumex spiralis
Rumex sect. Axillares
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.)
Species ca. 40 (21) in the flora).
North american representatives of this section (except Rumex venosus, a distinctive species) form a polymorphic complex consisting of often interfertile races (N. M. Sarkar 1958). In most cases those races are separated morphologically and restricted geographically. They may be arranged into at least three aggregates (groups) that approximate the subsections described by K. H. Rechinger (1937): R. verticillatus aggr. (subsect. Verticillati Rechinger f.), R. altissimus aggr. (subsect. Salicifolii Rechinger f., in part), and R. salicifolius aggr. (subsect. Salicifolii, in part). In case of difficulty with identification, inevitable with immature or intermediate specimens, determination to the aggregate level is recommended. Those preferring more broadly circumscribed species may use existing infrageneric combinations (see J. C. Hickman 1984). Attempts have been made to submerge various “microspecies” (especially in the R. salicifolius group) into more broadly circumscribed taxa, usually R. salicifolius and R. mexicanus, and various combinations at subspecific and varietal ranks have been proposed (see Hickman). In my opinion, results of this approach are inconsistent (e.g., some taxa are treated as varieties while others, not less distinct, are accepted as species or subspecies) and in most cases less convincing than the original treatment by Rechinger and the thorough study by Sarkar. I agree with Sarkar (p. 993) that “any drastic taxonomic revision of the species of the Axillares section of Rumex should be postponed until more complete cytogenetic data have accumulated concerning the interrelationships of all the taxa in this section.”
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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