522 RUMEX. [CLASS VI. ORDER III. 



bearing a tubercle; leaves lanceolate, acute, the lower ones heart- 

 shaped at the base ; whorls distant, of few flowered or erect long 

 slender branches, the upper ones without leaves. '• 



English Botany, I. 1533. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 190. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 172. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 210. 



Root slender, tapering, fleshy. IStem erect, from two to three feet 

 high, round, or somewhat angular, striated, alternately branched above, 

 smooth, slender. Leaves alternate, on channeled footstalks, having at 

 the base long thin membranous tight sheathing stipules, the lower 

 leaves oblong, lanceolate, acute at the point, and heart-shaped at the 

 base, frequently contracted on the sides towards the base, giving it a 

 sub-panduriform appearance, the upper ones narrower, and tapering 

 at the base often unequally, the margins waved, and scarcely crenated. 

 Inflorescence a branched panicle, with long slender erect scarcely 

 spreading branches, mostly with distant whorls of flowers, the lower 

 ones accompanied with a narrow leaf, the upper without. Floivers 

 small, on slender drooping peduncles, of unequal lengths, with a 

 swollen joint near the base. Perianth of six pieces, the two outer 

 ones small, narrow, thick, concave, the inner enlarging after flowering, 

 becoming oblong, with an obtuse or acute point, entire, reticulated 

 with veins from the mid-rib, one only generally swollen at the base 

 into a large prominent fleshy dark orange coloured tubercle. Nuts 

 small, brown, polished, ovate, three angled, acute at the base, and 

 at the apex, which is crowned by the persistent base of the styles. 



Habitat. — Road sides, fields, and shady places ; frequent. 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



The footstalks, mid-ribs, and veins of this species, as well as the 

 stem, are of a crimson colour, which becomes much deeper as the 

 plant advances to maturity. 



6. R. nemo'lapathum, Linn. (Fig. 597.) Green-veined Dock. En- 

 larged pieces of the perianth oblong, obtuse, entire, becoming tuber- 

 culated ; leaves lanceolate, waved and crenated, acute, the lower ones 

 heart-shaped at the base ; whorls few-flowered, on slender erect or 

 spreading branches, the upper ones without leaves. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 210. — Reicheub ic. fr, 551. — R. nemorosus, 

 Schrad. — R. sanguineus, var. /3. viridis. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 

 190.— English Botany, t. 1533.— Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 172. 



This is nearly allied to the last species, from which it differs in the 

 branches of the panicle, being more straggling, the enlarged segments 

 of the perianth being more obtuse, and each bearing a tubercle, the 

 leaves more waved and crisped, the footstalks, mid-ribs, and veins, are 

 always green, mostly rather downy, as well as the branches of the 

 panicle. How far it may be found permanently distinct from R. 

 sanguineus, or merely modified by the circumstances of its growth, we 

 are not fully prepared to state ; from what we have observed we are 



