HEXANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Rumex. 195 



elongated, bluntly lanceolate ; in their upper half quite entire j 

 in the lower furnished at each side with 3 taper teeth, much 

 shorter than the petal itself ; the disk of each bearing an ob- 

 long, reddish, prominent tubercle. The whorls when in fruit as- 

 sume a tawny aspect, but far short of the golden hue of the last. 

 Many eminent botanists have confounded these two species, 

 though the form of their petals, when in seed, is no less per- 

 manently distinct, than the number, shape, length and situa- 

 tion of tiie teeth which border them. There are several foreign 

 species nearly allied to them, but equally distinct. 



8. R. Hijdrolapathum. Great Water Dock. 



Permanent petals ovate-oblong, nearly entire, unequally 

 tuberculated. Leaves lanceolate, acute at each end. 

 Whorls rather crowded, almost entirely leafless. 



R. Ilvdrolapathum. Huds.V^A. mild. v. 2. 25\. IViih.Sjj. Sibtli. 

 1 IS. Abbot 82. IVoodv. Med. But. t. 1 78. Purt. r. 1. 183. v. 3. 

 253. 



R. aquaticas. H. i?r.394. Engl. Bot. v.^0. t.2\0A. nuUed.2. 

 V. 1. 102. Light/. 190. Hook. Scot. 112. Relh. 144. Ehrh. Pi, 

 Of. 114. 



R. Britannica. Iluds. ed. 1. 135. 



Lapathum n. 1588. Hall. Hist. v. 2.27 \. 



L. maximum aquaticum, sive Hydrolapathum. Eaii Si/n. 140. 

 Bauh.Hist. v.2.986.f.9S7. 



Great Water Dock. Pet. H. Brit. t.2.f.\. 



In marshland ditches, stagnant waters, and the margins of great 

 rivers, abundantly. 



Perennial. July, August. 



Root large and tuberous, with numerous long hairy fibres. Stem 

 from 4 to () feet high, erect, stout, hollow, cylindrical, with nu- 

 merous deep furrows, and strong, intermediate, smooth, reddish 

 ridges, branched, leafy, co))iously panicled. Leaves stalked, lan- 

 ceolate, acute, smooth, slightly glaucous, coriaceous, entire, 

 but minutely crisped at the edges ; tapering, not heart-shaped, 

 at the base ; tlie h^wermost often near 2 feet in length ; the 

 uppermost small and narrow, almost linear, accom|)anying 2 or * 

 3 of the lower whorls. Branches of tiie panicle a little zigzag, 

 beset with numerous, close, many-llowercd uhorls, most of them 

 leafless. i7. drooping, on stalks of very unequal lengths, swelling 

 Tit the top, and jointed, like all the foregoing, towards the base. 

 Petals in every stage much longer than the rahjx, linally ovate- 

 oblong, obtuse, reticulated with prominent veins, for the most 

 ])art entire at the margin, though several of them are wavy or 

 notched, hardly toothed ; one (ir two of them bear an ovate- 

 oblong, reddish tubercle, and thi third a smaller one ; but the 

 tubercles, tliough generallv present on every petal, vary remark- 

 ably in size and shape. Seid ovate, acute, with thin sharp angles. 



m 



