Rumex spiralis
Rumex thyrsiflorus
spiral tall dock, wing dock
compact dock, garden sorrel, grande oseille thyrsiflore, narrow-leaf sorrel, thyrse sorrel
ascending or erect, usually producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 50–90 cm.
usually erect, several from base, or occasionally solitary, branched in distal 1/2 (in inflorescence), (30–)40–100(–130) cm.
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.
ocrea often with fringed margins;
blade oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3–12(–15) × 1–3(–5) cm, usually more than 4 times as long as wide, base sagittate or sometimes hastate (with acute lobes directed downward, ± parallel to petiole, or often reflexed outward), margins entire to obscurely and irregularly repand, usually crisped and undulate, occasionally flat, apex acute.
terminal and axillary, terminal usually occupying distal 1/2 of stem, dense, narrowly to broadly paniculate (branches usually simple).
terminal, occupying distal 1/3 of stem, usually dense, or interrupted in proximal part, broadly paniculate, pyramidal (1st-order branches usually repeatedly branched, with numerous 2d-order branches).
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.
articulated near middle, filiform, 2–6(–7) mm, articulation distinct.
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.
(3–)4–8(–12) in whorls;
inner tepals orbiculate, occasionally broadly ovate, 2.5–3.5(–4) × 2.5–3.5 mm, base rounded, truncate, or slightly cordate, apex obtuse;
tubercles small or occasionally absent.
brown or dark reddish brown, 2.5–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm.
black or dark brown, 1.5–1.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm, normally smooth.
= 20.
= 14 (pistillate plants), 15 (staminate plants).
Rumex spiralis
Rumex thyrsiflorus
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.)
Rumex thyrsiflorus is commonly misidentified as R. acetosa. The growth habit (stout, vertical rootstock), narrower, often undulate leaves with often slightly spreading basal lobes (however, some European specimens have the lobes of distal and middle cauline leaves curved inward), and pyramidal, usually much-branched panicle of R. thyrsiflorus are traits especially useful for field identification. In addition, the inner tepals of R. thyrsiflorus are distinctly smaller than those of R. acetosa. The southern European (Mediterranean) race of R. thyrsiflorus, characterized by narrower leaves with more spreading, almost hastate basal lobes and fruiting inner tepals less cordate at the base, is sometimes recognized as R. intermedius de Candolle [= Acetosa thyrsiflora subsp. intermedia (de Candolle) Á. Löve]. The same forms occasionally occur in North America (Á. Löve 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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