110 



POLYGONACEAE. 



2. Rumex pulcher L. Fiddle 

 Dock. (Fig. 127.) Perennial, dark 

 green; stem slender, erect or procum- 

 bent, diffusely branched, l°-3° long, 

 the branches spreading. Leaves ob- 

 long, or some of the lower fiddle- 

 shaped, l'-6' long, long-petioled, ob- 

 tuse at the apex, cordate at the base, 

 the lower often purple-veined; upper 

 oblong or oblong-lanceolate, l'-3' long, 

 usually narrowed at both ends; peti- 

 oles more or less pubescent; panicle 

 loose; racemes long, divergent, some- 

 times reflexed, much Interrupted, 

 rather leafy; flowers few in the 

 whorls; pedicels equalling the calyx- 

 wings, jointed at or below the middle; 

 wings ovate or oblong-ovate, 2" long, 

 truncate at the base, one larger than 

 the others or all three of different 

 sizes, fringed with spine-like teeth, 

 usually two, sometimes one or all 

 three bearing tubercles; achene 1" 

 long, pointed, reddish, its faces con- 

 3. Rumex obtusifolius L. cave. 



Broad-leaved or Bitter Dock. ,...^ ^ xt^. 



/T-i- 100 \ -n -1 ^ \ ^ ^ Waste and cultivated grounds. Nat- 



(Fig. 128.) Perennial, glabrous; uralized from Europe in Bermuda, as in 



stem stout, erect, more or less the southern and western United States, 



scurfy above, 2°-4° tall. Lower Flowers in spring and summer, 



leaves oblong-lanceolate, 6'-15' 

 long, long-petioled, all cordate or 

 rounded at the base, obtuse or 

 acute at the apex, the upper lanceo- 

 late or oblong-lanceolate, short- 

 petioled, somewhat undulate or 

 crisped; panicle rather open; 

 racemes nearly erect; flowers 

 loosely whorled; pedicels slender, 

 somewhat longer than the calyx- 

 wings, jointed below the middle; 

 wings hastate, 2"-2i" long, fringed 

 with a few spreading spiny teeth, 

 one of them bearing an oblong 

 tubercle; achene pointed, dark red, 

 its faces concave, its angles slightly 

 margined. 



Waste grounds, recorded by Le- 

 froy. Introduced from Europe. 

 Widely naturalized in North America. 

 Flowers in spring and summer. Not 

 found by recent collectors but prob- 

 ably correctly recorded. 



Rumex Acetosella L., Field Sorrel, Sheep Sorrel, a low European 

 species with halberd-shaped sour leaves, recorded by Lefroy as met with in 

 pastures, has not been found in Bermuda by subsequent collectors. It is 

 W'idely naturalized in temperate North America. H. B. Small also records it, 

 but his description indicates that he had some other plant in mind, and the 

 record by Lefroy is also open to doubt. 



