BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. Polygonaccae. 



There are many kinds of Rumex, or Dock, coarse herbs, 

 with leafy, branching, grooved stems, sheathed with con- 

 spicuous, papery stipules, strong tap-roots and acid or 

 bitter juice. The large leaves are alternate, with smooth 

 or wavy edges; the flowers small, greenish or reddish, on 

 jointed pedicels, in branching clusters; the stamens six; 

 the styles three, the stigmas shield-shaped, with a tuft of 

 hairs at the tip. The six divisions of the flower are in twc 

 sets, the three outer small and green, the inner ones larger, 

 colored and becoming veiny and larger in fruit, forming 

 valves or wings, (often with a grain on the back of one or 

 all of them,) which closely cover the three-sided fruit. 

 These wings make the fruits of Docks more conspicuous 

 than the flower. The Latin name comes from a word 

 meaning "to suck," because the Romans sucked the leaves 

 to allay thirst. 



In favorable situations this is a very 

 Sand Dock .. , . 



Rumex vendsus handsome member of a rather plain genus, 



Greenish about a foot tall, with a smooth, stout 



Spring, summer reddish stem and smooth, pale, blue-green 

 West leaves, that feel like 'thin rubber, with *\ 



prominent mid-vein front and back. The small incon- 

 spicuous flowers develop into clusters of showy valves or 

 wings, wonderfully odd and beautiful in coloring, resem- 

 bling Begonia flowers. At first these wings are pale green, 

 but they gradually brighten until they are all shades of 

 salmon, rose-color, and red, fading to brown, and forming 

 lovely combinations of vivid color, particularly against the 

 arid background of the sand hills they frequent, and they 

 last a long time in water and are exceedingly decorative. 

 If these wings, which are nearly an inch across, are pulled 

 apart, a three-sided akene, like a little nut, will be found 

 inside them. 



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