708 



THE POLYGONUM FAMILY. 



2. Curled Dock. Rumex crispus, Linn. (Fig. 851.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1998.) ' 



Stem 2 to 3 feet high, with but few- 

 branches, usually short, and seldom 

 spreading. Radical leaves long and nar- 

 row, usually much waved or crisped at 

 the edges, and about 6 to 8 inches long, 

 but varying much in size ; the upper 

 ones smaller and narrower, gradually 

 passing into mere bracts. Whorls of 

 flowers numerous, and when in fruit 

 much crowded in a long narrow panicle, 

 although the slender pedicels are really 

 longer than the perianths. Inner seg- 

 ments of the fruiting perianth broadly 

 ovate, more or less cordate, one of them 

 bearing on the midrib an ovoid or ob- 

 loDg, coloured tubercle or grain, whilst 

 the others have the midrib only a little 

 thickened, except in the southern varieties, 

 where all three have often a tubercle. 

 On roadsides, in ditches, pastures, and 

 waste places, throughout Europe and Russian Asia, except the extreme 

 north, and (probably naturalized) in many other parts of the globe. 

 Abundant in Britain. Fl. summer. Specimens are occasionally found 

 with the leaves rather broader and the perianth-segments very slightly 

 toothed, showing an approach to the broad D. These are by some be- 

 lieved to be hybrids between the two species, by others considered as 

 a distinct species (_R. pratensis, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2757, a specimen 

 very near the broad D.). 



Fig. 851. 



3. Broad Dock. Rumex obtusifolius, Linn. (Fig. 852.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1999.) 



Stem 2 or 3 feet high, and but slightly branched, as in the curled D., 

 which it much resembles. It differs however in the broader leaves, 

 the radical ones often 8 or 9 inches by 3 or 4, rounded at the top, and 

 cordate at the base, the upper ones narrower and more pointed ; in 

 the looser and more distinct whorls of flowers, and the less crowded 

 panicles, although not near so spreading as in the red-veined D. ; and 

 especially in the inner segments of the perianth, which, although often 



