Genus 3. 



BUCKWHEAT FAMILY. 



653 



3. RUMEX L. Sp. PI. 333. 1753. 



_ Perennial or annual, leafy-stemmed herbs, some species slightly woody, the leaves in some 

 mainly basal. Stem grooved, mostly branched, erect, spreading or creeping. Leaves entire 

 or undulate, flat or crisped, the ocreae usually cylindric, brittle and fugacious, the inflo- 

 rescence consisting of simple or compound, often panicled racemes. Flowers green, perfect, 

 dioecious, or polygamo-monoecious, whorled, on jointed pedicels. Corolla none. Calyx 

 6-parted, the 3 outer sepals unchanged in fruit, the 3 inner ones mostly developed into wings, 

 one or all three of which usually bears a callosity (tubercle) ; wings entire, dentate, or fringed 

 with bristle-like teeth. Stamens 6, included or exserted; filaments very short, glabrous. 

 Style 3-parted; stigmas peltate, tufted; achene 3-angled, the angles more or less margined. 

 Embryo curved or nearly straight, borne in one of the faces of the 3-angled seed. [The 

 ancient Latin name.] 



About 140 species, of wide geographic distribution. Besides the following, some 15 others occur 

 in the southern and western parts of North America. Type species: Rumex Patientia L. 



* Leaves hastate; flowers dioecious; foliage acid; low species. 

 Inner sepals not developing wings in fruit; achene granular. 1. R. Acetosella. 



Fruiting inner sepals developing wings ; achene smooth. 



Basal leaves numerous ; wings orbicular-cordate. 2. R. hastatulus. 



Basal leaves few ; wings broadly oblong-cordate. 3. R. Acetosa. 



** Leaves not hastate; flowers perfect or polygamo-dioecious; foliage scarcely or not at all acid; 



tall species. 

 Leaves flat, bright or light green, or glaucescent. 



Wings Yi'—\ Yz broad, reddish; no tubercles. 4. R.venosus. 



Wings small, not red, bearing tubercles. 

 Tubercles usually 3. 



Pedicels little longer than the wings. 



Tubercles broad, nearly or quite as long and often nearly as wide as the wings. 



R. pallidas. 

 R. mexicanus. 

 R. verticillatus. 

 R. altissimus. 



9. R. Patientia. 



10. RtBritannica. 



11. R.occidentalis. 



12. R. crispus. 



13. R. conglomerates. 



14. R. sanguineus. 



15. R. pulcher. 



16. R. obtusifolius. 



Tubercles narrow, much shorter and narrower than the wings. 

 . Pedicels several times longer than the wings. 

 Tubercle usually 1 ; pedicels equalling the wings. 

 Leaves wavy-margined or crisped, dark green, not glaucescent. 

 Wings entire, more or less undulate. 



Lower leaves narrowed or acuminate at the base. 

 Tubercle 1. 

 Tubercles 3. 

 Lower leaves cordate or rounded at the base. 

 Tubercles wanting. 

 Tubercles mostly 3. 



Inflorescence not leafy ; pedicels long. 

 Inflorescence leafy ; pedicels short. 

 Tubercle 1 ; inflorescence not leafy ; pedicels short. 

 Wings toothed or fringed. 

 Lower leaves cordate. 



Wings ovate or oblong-ovate ; tubercles mostly 2. 

 Wings hastate or ovate-hastate ; tubercle 1. 

 Lower leaves mostly narrowed at base ; wings with 4 spreading bristle-like teeth 



1 7. R . persicarioides. 



i. Rumex Acetosella L. Field, Wood, Red or Sheep Sorrel. 



Rumex Acetosella L. Sp. PI. 338. 1753- 



Annual or perennial, glabrous, dioecious, stem 

 slender, erect or nearly so, simple or branched, 

 the rootstock woody, horizontal or creeping. 

 Leaves narrowly hastate, 1-4' long, obtuse or 

 acute at the apex, usually widest above the mid- 

 dle, petioled, the basal auricles entire or _ 1-2- 

 toothed, or the uppermost leaves nearly linear 

 and not auricled, all papillose; ocreae silvery, 

 2-parted, soon lacerate ; flowers in erect panicled 

 racemes ; racemes interrupted ; calyx green, i" 

 long, pedicelled; stamens exserted ;_ achene less 

 than 1" long, very granular, exceeding the per- 

 sistent calyx, its angles not margined. 



In dry. fields and on hillsides throughout North 

 America except the extreme north. In large part 

 naturalized from Europe. Sometimes a trouble- 

 some weed. Foliage very acid. Native also of Asia. 

 Ascends to 6000 ft. in North Carolina. May-Sept. 

 Sour-dock. Sour-grass or -leek. Mountain- or 

 gentleman's-sorrel. Horse-, cow- or toad-sorrel. 

 Red weed. 



