A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 91 



261. WATER DOCKS. RUMEX. 



Tall, coarse, herbs with often wavy margined leaves, but 

 no marginal teeth. Flowers green in large, usually much- 

 branched clusters, and in these Water Docks, the individual 

 flowers on slender drooping stalklets. Fruit dry, surrounded 

 by a flat veiny wing. (Polygonaceae.) There are several plants 

 of the same family, mostly weeds; see especially, Nos. 270, 

 and 294. 

 Leaves wavy-margined, the lower ones 12-24 in. long; wings toothed. 



262. Great Water Dock. Rumcx Britannica. A stout dark 

 green erect herb 3-6 ft. tall, often branched, the stem grooved. 

 Leaves oblong, pointed at both ends, the lower ones twice 

 as long as the upper ones, and long stalked. Flower cluster 

 much branched, the ultimate clusters interrupted and on 

 slender stalklets all arising at the same place. Canada to 

 Penn. and westward. July. Fig. 262. 



Leaves flat, not wavy-margined, the lower ones 2^12 in. long; wings 

 toothless. 



263. Swamp Dock. Rumex verticillatus. Much like No. 262, 

 but usually not so tall, and bright green. In swamps from 

 Quebec and Ontario to Florida, and westward. June. 



264. Virginia Stonecrop. Penthorum sedoides. {Penthor- 

 aceae.) A ditch or swamp perennial herb usually under 2 ft. 

 high with alternate stalked leaves that have shallow, but 

 regular teeth. Leaves 2-4 in. long, narrowed at both ends, 

 about ^ in. wide. Flowers in a forked, one-sided terminal 

 cluster, greenish, either without petals or with very incon- 

 spicuous ones. Fruit flattened, with 5-6 beaks. New Bruns- 

 wick to Fla. and westward. August. Fig. 264. 



265. Clearweed. Pilea pumila. {Urticaccac.) A rather weak 

 herb of swamps or moist shaded places not over 18 in. tall, 

 wilting almost as soon as picked. Leaves opposite, their stalks 

 as long as the leaf blade, which is 13^-4 in. long, prominently 

 3-veined, and with coarse teeth. Flowers greenish, incon- 

 spicuous, in small clusters at the base of the leaf stalks, and 

 shorter than them. New Brunswick and western Ontario to 



