Rumex verticillatus |
Rumex conglomeratus |
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swamp dock |
cluster dock, cluster or cluster green dock, green dock, sharp dock |
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Habit | Plants perennial, glabrous or nearly so, with vertical rootstock. | Plants perennial, normally glabrous, rarely very indistinctly papillose on veins of leaf blades abaxially, with fusiform, vertical rootstock. |
Stems | erect or, rarely, ascending, simple or producing axillary shoots below 1st-order inflorescence or at proximal nodes, 40–100(–150) cm. |
erect, branched in distal 2/3 (sometimes with few flowering stems from rootstock), 30–80(–120) cm. |
Leaves | blades with lateral veins forming angle of 45–60° with midvein, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, 5–30(–40) × 1–5 cm, usually 5–7(–10) times as long as wide, normally rather thin or at most subcoriaceous, base narrowly cuneate, margins entire, flat or slightly undulate, apex acute or acuminate. |
ocrea deciduous to partially persistent at maturity; blade oblong-lanceolate, obovate-lanceolate, or lanceolate, normally (5–)10–30 × 2.5–6 cm, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or truncate, rarely subcordate, margins entire, flat to very weakly undulate, apex subacute, occasionally obtuse. |
Inflorescences | terminal and axillary, terminal usually occupying distal 1/3–1/2 of stem, usually lax, interrupted at least in basal 1/2, narrowly paniculate. |
terminal, occupying distal 2/3 of stem, lax, interrupted, broadly paniculate, branches simple or nearly so, almost all but distalmost whorls with subtending leaves; panicle leafy at least in proximal 2/3 of length. |
Pedicels | articulated in proximal part, distinctly thickened distally, 10–17 mm, (2.5–)3–5 times as long as inner tepals, articulation distinctly or slightly swollen. |
articulated in proximal 1/3 or occasionally near middle, filiform, 1–4(–5) mm, ca. as long as inner tepals or slightly longer, articulation distinctly swollen. |
Flowers | 10–15(–25) in remote whorls; inner tepals ovate-triangular or ovate-deltoid, 3.5–5 × 2.5–4 mm, longer than wide or, very rarely, as long as wide, base truncate or rounded, margins entire or, rarely, very indistinctly erose, apex acute or subacute (then with broadly triangular-lingulate tip); tubercles 3, equal or subequal, minutely punctate and/or transversely rugose (wrinkled) in proximal part. |
10–20 in dense remote whorls; inner tepals oblong-lanceolate, oblong, or lingulate, 2–3 × 1–1.6(–2) mm, ca. 2 times as long as wide, base cuneate or truncate, margins entire, apex obtuse; tubercles 3, equal or subequal, largest tubercle almost as wide as inner tepal. |
Achenes | brown or dark brown, 2.3–3.1 × 1.6–2.2 mm. |
usually dark reddish brown, 1.5–1.8 × 1–1.4 mm. |
2n | = 60. |
= 20. |
Rumex verticillatus |
Rumex conglomeratus |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer. | Flowering early summer–early fall. |
Habitat | Swamps, bogs, marshes, wet meadows, irrigation ditches, wet alluvial woods | Marshes, wet meadows, shores, alluvial woods, ditches, wet waste places |
Elevation | 0-800 m (0-2600 ft) | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
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AL; AR; AZ; CA; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MO; MS; NC; NY; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WA; WV; BC; Europe; w Asia; sw Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced elsewhere]
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Discussion | Reports of Rumex verticillatus for New Mexico (W. C. Martin and C. R. Hutchins 1980) need confirmation. The species was reported erroneously from Colorado (S. L. O’Kane et al. 1988) as a result of misidentification of R. fueginus (see W. A. Weber and R. C. Wittmann 1992). I have not seen specimens of Rumex verticillatus from Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, and New Jersey, but the species probably occurs in those states. The following two species are closely related to Rumex verticillatus and sometimes treated as subspecies of it. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Rumex conglomeratus often is confused with immature specimens of R. obtusifolius, as well as with other species (e.g., R. sanguineus). Its distribution in North America is insufficiently known, and some literature records may refer to R. obtusifolius. Rumex conglomeratus and R. sanguineus were placed in subsect. Conglomerati Rechinger f. (K. H. Rechinger 1937). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 505. | FNA vol. 5, p. 524. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Axillares | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Rumex > subg. Rumex > sect. Rumex |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | R. acutus | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 334. (1753) | Murray: Prodr. Stirp. Gott., 52. (1770) |
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