BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 



As the flowering panicle becomes the fruiting panicle 

 it absorbs and overwhelms the plant; the central stalk 

 and all its branches are heavily burdened with golden- 

 brown, winged akenes in crowded whorls around the 

 stems. Only a few slender, wavy-edged leaflets are 

 here and there. Finally the fruiting stem becomes 

 darker in color, all greenness forsakes 

 it. It stands up rigid, stiff, and for- 

 bidding just over the fence in serried 

 rows and groups. 



And yet nature is kind to her vaga- 

 bonds as well as to the elect. Come 

 into close quarters with the plant and 

 in a way it commands respect for its 

 prolificness as well as the beauty of 

 its seed-bearing wings. Each upright 

 brown stem bears hundreds of tiny, 

 triangular seeds that feed the creatures 

 of the wild, on four feet or on two. 

 There are other Docks, unwelcome 

 visitors, but the Curly Dock is one easily recognized. 

 The books record one hundred and thirty species of 

 wide geographic distribution. 



When fruiting time comes Curly Dock is not alone, 

 nor is it responsible for all the stiff brown wands that 

 show their tops in the tangle. In many localities the 

 Broad-leaved Dock, Rumex obtusefdlius, is the more 

 common of the two, and the greater pest. It may 

 be known by its broad leaves, six to twelve inches 

 long with heart-shaped bases and rounded or bluntly 

 pointed tips, the mid vein conspicuous and often reddish, 

 and the margins even or somewhat wavy and slightly 

 ruffled. A specific difference is that but one of the 



42 



Leaf of Common 



Dock. Rumex 



obtusefdlius 



