154 POLYGONACEAE (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY) 



with a deep sinus, 15-30 mm. in diameter, bright rose-color: pedicels long, 

 slender, jointed near the base : achene 4-7 mm. long. Sandy ravines and banks; 

 Kansas and Colorado, and far westward and northward. 



4. Rumex salinus A. Nels. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 25: 549. 1898. Perennial 

 by a horizontal woody rootstock on which are borne large fascicled, oblong- 

 elliptic tubers, glabrous throughout: stem stout, nearly erect, conspicuously 

 grooved, 2-4 dm. high: leaves large, moderately thick, somewhat crisped on 

 the edges, crowded at the base, smaller and more distant upwards, all short- 

 petioled; the lower oblanceolate-oblong, 10-15 cm. long, 3-5 cm. wide, upper 

 lanceolate; sheaths large and thin: racemes erect, at length naked and inter- 

 rupted: calyx red, conspicuously winged at maturity: pedicels filiform, as long 

 or longer than the wings, which are cordate, 10-13 mm. long, deep red: achene 

 10 mm. long, smooth with margined angles. In dry densely saline (alkali) 

 soils; Colorado and Wyoming. 



5. Rumex hymenosepalus Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 177. 1858. Stems 4-10 

 dm. high, from a cluster of deep-seated dahlia-like tuberous roots, subsimple, 

 papillate to glabrous, often red: leaves rather succulent, more or less wavy 

 margined, often 5-20 cm. long or longer, elliptical to oblanceolate, obtuse to 

 very sharply acuminate, the acute base decurrent on the short thick petioles: 

 inflorescence ample, compound, with elongated suberect branches; pedicels 

 slender, about as long as the fruit ; less tumidly jointed below the middle: 

 valves flexible, ovate, about 10-15 mm., obtuse to subacute, with an open 

 sinus: achene about 5 mm. long. Colorado to California and southward. 



6. Rumex mexicanus Meisn. DC. Prodr. 14: 47. 1856. Stems tufted, as- 

 cending, 3-6 dm. high: leaves rarely over 15 cm. long, lanceolate, often plicate, 

 acute at both ends: pedicels scarcely equaling the fruit, or a few in each clus- 

 ter longer, jointed near the base: valves 4-5 mm. long, triangular-ovate, 

 acute, more delicately veined ; callosities variable in number, smooth or mostly 

 pitted, often nearly as long as the valve, 1 mm. or more broad, leaving typi- 

 cally a very narrow margin on each side: achene 2 mm. long. R. salici- 

 folius. Throughout the Rocky Mountains and across the continent north- 

 ward. 



7. Rumex brittanica L. Sp. PL 334. 1753. Stout, erect, 5-10 dm. high, 

 somewhat branched, glabrous: leaves large, somewhat undulate, rounded or 

 acute at base and decurrent, tapering gradually to the apex: panicle ample, 

 dense in fruit, the whorls overlapping: pedicels about twice as long as the fruit, 

 jointed near the base: valves 5-6 mm. long, round-ovate, scarcely cordate; 

 tubercles 3, low and broad: achene 2-3 mm. long. Seemingly extending into 

 Colorado and Utah from the eastward. 



8. Rumex crispus L. 1. c. 335. Erect, rather stout, 6 dm. high, simple: 

 leaves bluish-green, the petiole and principal veins papillate, very wavy mar- 

 gined, the lowest ample, elliptical to mostly oblong-lanceolate, rather obtuse, 

 rounded or decurrently acutish at base: flowering branches strict, somewhat 

 leafy; whorls dense and approximated; pedicels about one half longer than the 

 fruit, swollen-jointed near the base: valves 3-5 mm. long, round-ovate, barely 

 cordate, minutely erose or exceptionally broadly dentate below; callosities 3, 

 often rosy, smooth, ovoid, reaching to the middle of the valve: achene 2. 5 mm. 

 long. Introduced everywhere into cultivated and waste grounds. CURLED 

 DOCK. 



9. Rumex Patientia L. 1. c. 333. A stout erect perennial much like the pre- 

 ceding but only one of the rather larger valves developing a tubercle. Ex- 

 tensively introduced in this country; sparingly in our range. 



10. Rumex obtusifolius L. 1. c. Erect, 6-9 dm. high: stem usually and 

 sometimes strongly papillate: leaves somewhat undulate, ample or the lowest 

 very large, broadly ovate, cordate, frequently acute, the often purple veins 

 papillate, especially beneath: flowering branches suberect, sparingly leafy be- 

 low: pedicels slender, about twice as long as the fruit, swollen-jointed toward 

 the base: valves flexible, not very heavily veined, 4-5 mm. long, ovate- 

 oblong, with 3-5 thin triangular teeth on each side; callosities smooth, the 

 largest one about 1 mm. broad, the other two usually very small : achene 



