In mud at edge of lakes and ponds, bogs and muddy areas, most frequent in 

 seasonally moist usually disturbed ground in e. Okla. (Bryan and McCurtain cos.) 

 and widespread in e. half of Tex., spring; Medit. region, now widely adv. in 

 warm-temp, regions. 



15. Rumex violascens Rech. f. 



Annual or biennial or perhaps perennial at times; stems stoutish, to 8 dm. tall, 

 often in the upper part more or less fractiflex; basal leaves 3 times as long as 

 broad, oblanceolate to elongate-obovate, the stem leaves smaller and proportion- 

 ately narrower and longer; valves 2.5-3 mm. long, 2-3 mm. broad, marginally 

 denticulate and each dorsomedially with a grain but the grains often disparate in 

 size in the same flower; achenes 1.7 mm. long. 



Low wettish lands and ditch banks, locally frequent near El Paso (El Paso Co.) 

 in the Tex. Trans-Pecos, N.M. (Dona Ana and San Juan cos.) and Ariz. (Mohave 

 and Gila to Pima and Yuma cos.), spring; Tex., N.M., Ariz., Calif., Son. and 

 Coah. 



16. Rumex maritimus L. Golden dock. Fig. 402. 



Annual or occasionally biennial; stems erect or ascending, 1.5-6 dm. tall, usually 

 strict, slender or stout, more or less striate, papillose-scabrous, glabrescent or 

 glabrous, becoming brownish or sometimes purplish; lower leaves membranous or 

 subcoriaceous, the margin more or less undulate-crisped, glabrous and smooth or 

 scabrous-pubescent, linear-lanceolate, the blade 5 to 7 times as long as wide, more 

 or less cordate or truncate at base and widened above base, the apex acute; 

 petiole shorter than blade; upper leaves progressively smaller, narrower; panicle 

 broad, the glomerules many-flowered, contiguous and compact above, remote 

 below and often extending to near base of plant, leafy-bracted; pedicels slender, 

 articulate near base, 1 to 2 times as long as mature perianth; flowers perfect; valves 

 triangular, 1.7-2 mm. long, 0.7-0.9 mm. wide exclusive of the teeth, subcoria- 

 ceous, the apex liguiate, acute, the margins each with 2 (or 3) divergent setaceous- 

 subulate teeth, each valve with a callous grain, these fusiform, cellular-punctate, 

 prominent, about 1-1.4 mm. long, 0.5-0.7 mm. wide, the apex obtuse, narrowing 

 into midrib; achene brown. 1.3-1.4 mm. long, 0.5-0.7 mm. wide, the ends usually 

 subequally acuminate. Incl. var. fueginus (Phil.) Dusen, R. fueginus Phil. 



Lake margins, marshy ground, in shallow water and on sandy-gravel bars along 

 streams and about lakes and ponds, rare in the Tex. Panhandle (Randall Co.), 

 N.M. (Colfax, Catron, Taos, Rio Arriba and San Juan cos.) and Ariz. (Apache 

 Co.); June-Sept.; also widely distributed in Eur. and s. S.A. 



A plant found on mud about Morgan Lake, San Juan County, New Mexico, 

 that has been referred here, is possibly an undescribed species closely allied to 

 R. maritimus. 



4. Polygonum L. Smartweed. Knotweed 



Aquatic, terrestrial or amphibious annual or perennial herbs, sometimes viny 

 but without tendrils; leaves alternate, entire, with scarious sheathing (stipular 

 sheath) often conspicuously venose stipules (ocreae); flowers on jointed pedicels 

 clustered in the axils of leaves or bracts or more often in terminal spikelike racemes 

 which may be solitary and terminal, in pairs or in groups of 1 to 9 at the ends of 

 branches, or occasionally reduced in the axils of leaves; perianth 4- to 6-merous, 

 essentially distinct or united below, pink, green or white, the essentially equal lobes 

 erect in fruit, often closely investing the achene, usually with an evident glandular 

 disk lining the lower part (this frequently not evident in dried material); stamens 

 3 to 9, often unequally inserted, some in the sinuses of the lobes, others below on 

 the tube or occasionally some on the margin of the gland; anthers small, linear, 



807 



