46 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
SPECIES VL-RUMEX OBTUSIFOLIUS. “ Linn.” Auct, Plor. 
Prats MCCXV. 
R. Friesii, Gren. & Gr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. TIL. p. 36. 
R. divaricatus, Fries, Mant. iii, p. 25, and Summ. Veg. Scand. pp. 51 and 202 
(non Linn.). 
Leaves thin, the radical ones very broadly oblong or ovate-oblong, 
not panduriform, cordate at the base, subacute or subobtuse, crenate- 
repand and slightly undulated at the margins; lower stem leaves 
similar, but narrower, and on shorter stalks; leaves at the base of 
the whorls elliptical or lanceolate-elliptical, stalked. Branches of the 
panicle ascending or erect-ascending, leafless, except at the very base. 
Pedicels once and a half or twice as long as the fruit petals, articulated 
a little below the middle, spreading nearly all round the stem. Flowers 
perfect. Enlarged petals in fruit triangular, truncate at the base, obtuse, 
cut into several rather long triangular setaceous-pointed teeth in the 
basal half, strongly reticulate; the two lower ones rather smaller than 
the upper one, with a slender linear-lanceolate tubercle; the upper 
petal with a large short ovate-ovoid tubercle; tubercles not muricated. 
By roadsides and on waste ground, cultivated fields and pastures. 
Very common, and universally distributed. 
England, Scotland, Treland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 
Rootstock thick, blackish, the apex clothed with filaments formed of 
the decayed petioles of previous years. Radical leaves sometimes very 
large; the lamina sometimes 6 inches to 1 foot long, the breadth half 
to one-third of the length. Flowering stem 18 inches to 8 feet high 
or more, branched; the branches making but a small angle with the 
stem, so that the panicle is long, narrow, and compact; whorls generally 
approximate, many-flowered, most of them leafless. Pedicels slender, 
recurved from below the articulation, not above it, as in R. pulcher. 
Fruit petals + to } inch long, olive, generally tinged with red, each 
margin with 3 (rarely 2 or 4) long spreading teeth, the longest of which 
is about as long as the width of the petal; apex of the petal entire, and 
less strongly veined than the base; tubercles generally red; those on the 
two lower petals slender, and frequently little more than a thickening 
of the midrib towards the base. Nut about 4 inch long, very broadly 
ovate, triquetrous, light yellowish-brown, smooth, slightly shining. 
Plant deep green, the stem and veins often tinged with red, the whole 
plant frequently becoming bright red in autumn, Stem often with 
lines of short hairs; underside of the leaf veins papillose. 
1 have retained the name “ obtusifolius” for this species, as it is the 
one generally applied to it, and doubtless Linneus included it under 
that name, though Fries is probably correct in considering that he more 
