18 Rhodora [JANUARY 
apparently distinet species; and since we have in New England and 
Eastern Canada two clearly separable plants which have been passing 
as R. salicifolius it becomes important to determine what they should 
be called. 
In the first place we must determine what plant Weinmann had 
before him in describing Rumex salicijolius. This is much simpler 
than would be inferred from Professor Trelease’s reference to “the 
Old World type"; for Weinmann's plant came from California and 
his description was very obviously based upon the peculiar local 
plant, with elliptical leaves and “опе valve almost covered by the very 
large callosity, the other two naked", which: Professor Trelease singled 
out from the aggregate as most worthy of separation from R. salici- 
jolius. The original description was as follows: — * 
“9, RUMEX SALICIFOLIUS mihi. Floribus dioicis, valvulis integer- 
rimis; unica granifera, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis integerrimis acumi- 
natis subtus glaucescentibus. 
Radix perennis et caulis basi interdum lignescens, 2-3 pedalis, 
ramosus, erectus. Folia petiolata, oblongo-lanceolata, undique atten- 
uata 6-7 uncias longa, sesquiuncias lata. Ochreae tenerrimae semper- 
lacerae. Verticilli congesti multiflori. In California, h. a: 
This Californian plant the true Rumex salicifolius, which is well 
shown in specimens collected by Mr. A. A. Heller on the beach near 
the Cliff House, San Francisco, June 16, 1902, is very distinct from 
all the other plants which have been referred to that species not only 
in its short oblong or elliptical leaves, but in the solitary very large 
grain of the fruit; and so far as the writer is able to determine from 
the herbarium material at hand it is confined to the region from San 
Francisco southward into Monterey County, California. 
The very different plant of the New England coast which has been 
passing under the name Rumex:salicijolius, the familiar White Dock 
of our salt marshes and sea beaches, is a somewhat depressed plant, 
the stems (usually several) more or less reclining or decumbent, fi- 
nally ascending. Its pale leaves are narrowly lanceolate and elongate, 
the principal ones measuring 1 to 2 dm. long, 1.3 to 2.5 em. broad. 
The lower branches of its mature panicle spread nearly at right angles. 
Its fruiting calyx is whitish-brown, the valves 3 to 4 mm. long, but 
slightly exceeding the 3 conspicuous whitish ovoid or lance-ellipsoid 
! Weinmann, Flora, iv. 28 (1821). 
