~ 
50 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
By roaasides, in waste places, cultivated ground, pastures, &c. Very 
common, and generally distributed. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 
Rootstock thick. Stem erect, 18 inches to 4 feet high, branched. 
Radical leaves 5 to 9 inches long, much more crisped at the margins 
than in any of the preceding species. Whorls with rather numerous 
flowers, generally approximate. Pedicels slender, articulated nearer 
to the base than to the middle, bent downwards at the articulation, or 
a little above it. Fruit petals } to 4 inch long, olive, frequently 
tinged with a dull brownish red, generally quite entire, but sometimes 
subdenticulate in the lower half, but much less deeply so than in R. 
pratensis and R. conspersus; tubercle on the uppermost petal about 
half as long as the petal; those of the two other petals generally rudi- 
mentary, but sometimes nearly as large and prominent as that on the 
upper petals. Nut with roundish-ovate faces, much acuminated, 7!5 inch 
long, brown, smooth, shining. Plant dull green, the stem and leaves 
frequently tinged with purplish-brown, especially in autumn. Plant 
glabrous, or with a few hairs on the stem; lateral veins of the leaves 
slightly papillose beneath. 
The specimens which I have scen of the form with all the petals 
bearing tubercles, have the fruit petals smaller and rather narrower 
in proportion than that which has a distinct tubercle on the upper 
petal only. 
Curled Dock. 
French, Patience crépue. German, Krauser-Ampfer. 
The origin of the common name of this plant and its allies is very obscure, and 
even Dr. Prior does not appear to have ascertained it satisfactorily. He says, “ It is 
not at all obvious how the words, dilld, paradella, padella, and dona came to be 
applied to the broad-leaved plants called dock in later times, viz. the water-lilies, 
mallows, burdocks, and sorrels. Possibly from their external application as soothing 
remedies to tender surfaces, these last were comprised under the same category as 
the dills or carminative plants used to lull pain. Old herbals and vocabularies give 
no support to the view of some etymologists, that dock means * stump.’ It was not 
confined to stumpy plants, and there is no such word as dock, with the meaning of 
‘stump,’ in the ancient Saxon language.” The Curled Dock is applicable to all the 
purposes for which the other species are used. The tresh roots, bruised and made 
into an ointment, are said to cure the itch. The seeds have been given with advan- 
tage in dysentery. 
SPECIES X—-RUMEX DOMESTIC US. Hartm. 
Puare MCCXIX. 
R. aquaticus, Hooker in B.B.S. No. 2698. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 283. Hook. 
& Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 374, Benth. in Handbk. Brit. Bot. ed. ii. p. 394 
(non Linn. Herb. ! nee Smith). 
R. longifolius, “ D.C.” Meisner, in D.C. Prod, Vol. XIV. p. 44. 
Leaves thin, the radical ones oblong-elliptical or lanceolate-oblong, 
