POLYGONACEiE. 47 



especially intended the Rumex sylvestris of Wallroth (Sched. Crit. 

 p. 101). Jt ought to be looked for in Scotland, and may be readily 

 known by its more abruptly acuminate, smaller, and shorter fruit petals, 

 shortly spinous-toothed towards the base, and with a less strongly 

 'marked network of veins. I am unacquainted with the plant, but 

 Koch says it passes into R. obtusifolius by numerous intermediate 

 forms, so that at the utmost it appears to be only a subspecies. 



Broad-leaved Dock. 



Frencli, Patience afeuilles ohtuses. German, Stumj^fblclttriger Ampfer. 



SPECIES yil.— R UMEX PRATENSIS. Mert. and Koch. 



Plate MCCXVI. 



R. acutus, Fries, Summ. Veg. Scand. pp. 62 and 202. Gren. & Godr. Fl, de Fr. Vol. Ill, 



p. 38 (non Linn. Herb. !). 

 R. cristatus, Wallr. Sched. Crit. p. 163 (non B.C.). 



Leaves thin, the radical ones broadly-oblong or lanceolate-oblong, 

 not panduriform, subcordate or rounded at the base, subacute, crenate- 

 repand and slightly undulated at the margins ; lower stem leaves 

 similar, but narrower, on shorter stalks, not cordate at the base, and 

 more acute ; leaves at the base of the whorls strapshaped-elliptical, 

 shortly-stalked. Branches of the panicle ascending-erect, leafless 

 except at the very base. Pedicels about twice as long as the fruit 

 petals, articulated considerably below the middle, spreading nearly all 

 round the stem. Enlarged petals m fruit roundish-deltoid, subcordate 

 at the base, obtuse, cut into several short deltoid- triangular-acuminate 

 teeth in the basal two-thirds, strongly reticulate ; one of the lower ones 

 considerably smaller than the upper one, and each of them with a very 

 slender linear-lanceolate tubercle, sometimes reduced to a thickened 

 midrib, or with a more prominent lanceolate one, rarely with an ovoid 

 tubercle; the upper petal with a large short ovate-ovoid tubercle; 

 tubercles not muricated. 



By roadsides and in waste ground, cultivated fields and pastures. 

 Rather rare, but probably distributed over the greater part of England ; 

 for though it has been recorded from only about half the counties, it 

 is very liable to be passed over as R. obtusifolius or R. crispus. Rare in 

 Scotland, where I have gathered it only near Musselburgh and Aber- 

 deen. Rare in Ireland, where it has occurred near Killarney and 

 Belfast, and in co. Mayo. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



R. pratensis difi'ers from R. obtusifolius in the leaves being narrower, 

 less cordate at the base, and more acute ; the stem leaves especially are 



