RUMEX. 



why nuthors have been led to defcribe the fame plant twice, 

 and to confound its fynonyms. 



Seft. 2. Stamens and piftils in the fame flowers. Valves 

 naked, or without grains. 



18. R. bucephalophorus. Bafil-leaved Dock. Linn. Sp. 

 PL 479. Willd. 11. 17. Ait. n. 14. Cavan. Ic. v. 1. 31. 

 t. 41. f. I. Sm. Fl. Graec. Sibth. t. 345, unpublifhed. 

 ( Acetofa ocimi folio neapolitana i3zxi2a.\*$o(z. ; Column. 

 Ecphr. part 1. 151. t. 150.) — Flowers united. Valves 

 naked, veinlefs, with hooked teeth. Flower-ilalks ternate, 

 roughifh ; dilated and vaulted when in fruit. — Native of 

 Italy, Barbary, and the Levant. Common in fpring in the 

 corn-fields of Greece and the neighbouring iflands, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Sibthorp, who judged it to be AaTaSov to /aixpon 

 of Diofcorides. It is annual, and has been occafionally 

 raifed in our gardens for near 150 years part, for the fake 

 of its curious and Angular ftru&ure. The root is fibrous. 

 Herb very variable in luxuriance ; fometimes fimple, two or 

 three inches high ; fometimes branched from the bafe into 

 fevcral afcending, leafy, fi mple^mj-, flowering almofl all the 

 way up. Leaves ftalked, ovate, or fpatulate, fmooth, en- 

 tire. Stipulas membranous, white, long, and taper-pointed. 

 Flowers always three together, in a feries of whorls, partly 

 axillary, but chiefly leaflefs. Fhwerjlalks deflexed, red, 

 roughifh with minute granulations, as well as the tawny or 

 reddifh calyx and petals. The latter are three-lobed, and 

 become ovate pointed valves, each befet at the margin, on 

 each fide, with about three awl-fhaped, hooked teeth or 

 fpines. As the fruit advances, each Jlowerjla/l becomes 

 lengthened, and dilated towards the calyx, being convex 

 above, and vaulted underneath, not properly, as Linnaeus 

 fays, " plane," neither is it tumid or club-fhaped. Co- 

 lumna, by a ftretch of fancy, compares the valves in fruit 

 to a bull's head, two fegments of the reflexed calyx looking 

 like horns. 



19. R. jimbriatus. Fringed New Holland Dock. Brown 

 n. I. — " Flowers united. Valves naked, veiny, fringed with 

 hooked teeth. Flower-ltalks reflexed and thickened when 

 in fruit." — Pothered by Mr. Brown, near Port Jackfon, 

 New South Wales. We have feen no fpecimen. This fpecies 

 feems very nearly akin to the laft. 



20. R. vjiearius. Bladder Dock, or Sorrel. Linn. 

 Sp. Pl.479. Willd. n. 20. Ait. n. 16. (Acetofa ame- 

 ricana, foliis longiffimis pediculis donatis ; Bauh. Prodr. 54. 

 Morif. fed. 5. t. 28. f. 7. A. veficaria peregrina ; Befl. 

 Hort. Eyft. vern. ord. 6. t. 15. f. 3.) — Flowers united. 

 Stalks moftly in pa' . All the valves very large, mem- 

 branous, entire, folded back. Leaves undivided Native 



of Africa. A hardy annual in our gardens, where it ap- 

 pears to have been firll cultivated by Tradefcant, in 1656. 

 It flowers in July and Augult. The Jlem is branched, from 

 a fpan to 18 inches high, fmooth. Leaves on long Italks, 

 ovate, and obtufe, but with two angles at the bafe, fo as to 

 approach a halberd- fliape. The plant is chiefly remarkable 

 fur the beauty of its large mining membranous valves, re- 

 ticulated with veins, and tinged with a light rofe-colour. 

 Thefe invert the ripe feed, hanging on capillary drooping 

 ftalks in great abundance. The figure in the Hortus Eyflel- 

 lenfis is much the befl, were it not fo difficult of accefs, on 

 account of the unwcildinefs, and bad arrangement, of that 

 pompous old book. 



21. R. rofeus. Rofe-coloured Dock. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 480. Willd. n. 21. Ait. n. 17. Sm. Fl. Grsec. Sibth. 

 t. 346, unpublilhed. (Acetofa asgyptia, rofeo feminis in- 

 volucro, folio lacero Lippi ; Shaw Specim. n. 5. t. 1 ?) — 

 Flowers united. Valves unequal, membranous, rounded, 

 reticulated, toothed. Leaves undivided Native, as it is 



faid, of Egypt. Dr. Sibthorp found it in the ifle of Cyprus, 

 and his fine figure is the only good one we have met with ; 

 for the miferable Iketch of Shaw appears certainly to have 

 been taken from the tingitanus, with whofe leaves it accords, 

 though not with thofe of rofeus ; yet from this plate it feems 

 Linnsus borrowed a part of his character, "foliis erq/is," 

 which does not agree even with his own poor fpecimen. 

 The true rofeus, from a fimple annual root, throws up feveral 

 fpreading, afcending, leafy Jlems, near a fpan high. Leaves 

 on long ftalks, undivided, entire, of an oblong, flightlv 

 haftate figure, but much narrower than in the laft fpecies. 

 The whole herb is roughifh, with a fort of hoary mealinefs. 

 Flowers, as well as their Jla/is, and the valves inverting the 

 feed, of an elegant rofe-colour ; the lobes of the valves femi- 

 orbicular, membranous, ftrongly reticulated with red veins, 

 and bordered with fine fharp teeth. 



22. R. tingitanus. Tangier Dock. Linn. Sp. PL 479. 

 Willd. n. 22. Ait. n. 18. (Acetofa dentata perpetua di 

 Tanger ; Zanon. III. 14. t. 5. (Lapathum maritimum fceti- 

 dum ; Bauh. Prodr. 56.) — Flowers united. Valves heart- 

 fhaped, obtufe, membranous, entire. Leaves haftate, ovate, 

 jagged. — Native of Barbary, Spain, and Cyprus. Hardy 

 in our gardens, flowering from June to Auguft. — Root pe- 

 rennial, creeping. Stems about a foot high, afcending, 

 branched. Leaves on long ftalks, roughifh, confifting of a 

 large, ovate, acute, central lobe, with two fmall tranlverfe 

 ones at the bafe ; all crilped or jagged at the edges, fome- 

 times pinnatirid. Flowers in long clutters, two or three to- 

 gether, with a membranous bractea under them. Valves 

 not half the fize of the two laft, whitifh and fliining. 

 Shaw's figure, cited under rofeus, exaftly reprefents this 

 fpecies, and we find Desfontaines has removed it hither. 



23. R.fcutalus. French, or Garden, Sorrel. Linn. Sp. 

 PL 480. Willd. n. 23. Ait. n. 19. (Acetofa rotundi- 

 folia hortenfis ; Morif. feet. 5. t. 28. f. 9. Oxalis franca 

 feu romana ; Ger. Em. 397.) — Flowers united. Leaves 

 haftate, fomewhat heart- fhaped. Stem round. Native of 

 Switzerland, the fouth of France, and fome parts of Ger- 

 many, in (tony places. Cultivated for the ufe of the table, 

 in every kitchen-garden, fince the days of Gerarde. It is a 

 perennial herb, flowering in June and July. The leaves are 

 very fmooth and rather glaucous, quite entire, fupported by 

 long ftalks. Their flavour is very gratefully acid, either 

 recent or flewed. Flowers fmall, racemofe, pendulous. 

 Valves orbicular, entire. 



R. glaucus, Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 67, is a more glaucous and 

 fmall-leaved variety, whofe Jlem is faid to be in fome degree 

 woody. 



24. R. nervofus. Three -ribbed Dock. Vahl. Symb. 

 v. I. 27. Willd. n. 24. (R. perficarioides ; Forfk. 

 ./Egypt. Arab. 76.) — Flowers united. Valves orbicular, 

 entire, naked. Leaves oblong, three-ribbed. Gathered 

 by Forfkall, on the mountains of Hadi, in Arabia. The 



Jlem is rather fhrubby, with round ftriated branches. Leaves 

 ftalked, oblong ; the uppermoft lanceolate ; all of them 

 acute, entire, flefhy, very fmooth, glaucous, an inch or 

 more in length, with three ribs, but no veins. Stipulas mem- 

 branous, fheathing, abrupt. Panicle terminal. Flower- 

 Jlalks capillary, thickened under the Jlower, longer than the 

 fruit. Calyx reflexed. Valves orbicular, fmouth, without 

 grains. Vahl. 



2J. R. digynus. Mountain Sorrel. Linn. Sp. PL 480. 

 Willd. n. 25. Ait. n. 20. Purfh n. 9. Fl. Brit. n. 9. 

 Engl. Bot. t. 910. Fl. Dan. t. 14. (Welfh Sorrel; 

 Petiv. H. Brit. t. 3. f. 4. ) — Flowers united. Styles two. 

 Valves ovate, entire, naked. Leaves broadly emarginate. 

 — Native of Alpine rivulets, on the mountains of Lapland, 



Labradore, 



