CLASS VI. ORDEa III.] RUMEX. 527 



smaller, as indeed is the whole plant. It is found in inland marshes, 

 as well as near the sea, but it is not very frequent. 



12. R. palus'tris, Smith. (Fig. 603.) Yellow Marsh Dock. Enlarged 

 pieces of the perianth ovate, with an entire lanceolate point, and two 

 or three awl-shaped teeth on the margin, about half as long as itself, 

 each bearing a large ovate tubercle ; whorls separate, many-flowered, 

 leafy ; leaves linear, lanceolate, crenated. 



English Botany, t. 1932. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 194. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 173. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 210. R. mari- 

 timus, Muds. 



Root tapering, fleshy, with many whorled branched fibres. Stem 

 erect, from two to three feet high, stout, angled and deeply furrowed, 

 straight, or somewhat zigzag, alternately branched and leafy, of a deep 

 golden yellow, roughish, the branches erect, or somewhat spreading, 

 simple, or divided. Leaves linear-lanceolate, on somewhat channeled 

 footstalks, green, paler beneath, smooth, the margins waved and 

 crenated in a crisped manner, the lower leaves oblong, lanceolate, 

 obtuse at the base, much longer and larger than the upper ones, those 

 accompanying the whorls narrow, linear, long. Flowers very nume- 

 rous, in densely crowded rather distant whorls, each accompanied with 

 a leaf. Perianth, of six pieces, the three outer ones narrow, linear, 

 tapering, the three inner enlarged ones ovate-lanceolate, with an entire 

 point, the margins in the lower half with two or three awl-shaped 

 teeth, about half as long as the perianth, each bearing a large ovate 

 oblong fleshy tubercle, of a reddish colour. Peduncles slender, thick- 

 ened upwards, and jointed below the middle. Nuts broadly ovate, 

 acute at each end, the apes pointed with the base of the styles, acutely 

 angled, of a dark shining brown. 



Habitat. Marshy places remote from the sea, not common, and 

 chiefly in the South of England. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



The whorls when in fruit, though of a somewhat tawny appearance, 

 are far from having the golden yellow colour of R. maritimui ; and its 

 larger flowers, .with conspicuous large tubercles and short teeth in 

 rather distant whorls, renders its general aspect very different from 

 R. maritimus, with its densely crowded flowers having a remarkable 

 bristly appearance from the leng teeth of the perianth, and being more 

 leafy and of a bright colour, renders it a conspicuous plant, strikingly 

 different from R. palustris. 



** Plants acid. Flowers dioecious. Styles attached to the angles of 

 the ovary. Leaves hastate, or sagittate. Acetosa Tornef. Sorrels. 



13. R. Aceto'sa, Linn. (Fig. 604.) Common Sorrel. Enlarged 

 pieces of the perianth roundish, heart-shaped, membranous, entire, the 

 outer pieces reflexed ; leaves oblong, arrow-shaped or spear-shaped, 

 veiny ; stipules laciniated. 



