3 82 



Docks and Sorrels. 



[AUG., 



The botanical order Polygonacece includes a number of 

 plants which are extremely troublesome both to the farmer 

 and gardener, several species of the 

 Docks and genus Rumex, or docks, being of 



Sorrels. a particularly exasperating character. 



These species of Rumex are indiscrimi- 

 nately known as Docks, two species, however, being almost 

 invariably recognised as Sorrel or Sorrel Docks. Weeds of 

 this genus occur on both arable and grass land, and all those 

 considered here are perennial in habit. 



The Common or Broad-leaved Dock (Rumex obtusifolius, 

 L.) is a practically ubiquitous weed occurring in arable and 

 meadow land, waste ground, &c. It is an erect plant, with a 

 stout stem from one to three feet in height, and a large, 

 strong, tapering rootstock descending deeply into the soil. 

 The leaves from the base may be a foot long, and are oblong- 

 lanceolate, with a somewhat waved margin and a slender 

 stalk. The narrow panicle is leafy towards the base, and the 

 small flowers, which appear in August and September, are on 

 slender pedicels, and give rise to brownish triangular fruits 

 resembling buckwheat. When in flower the panicle has a 

 reddish-brown tinge. 



The Curled Dock (Rumex crispus, L.) occurs in similar 

 situations to R. obtusifolius, and may also be described as 

 ubiquitous. The stout stem is branched (Fig. i), and from 

 one to three feet in height, and the rootstock is similar to that 

 of the species mentioned above. The lanceolate leaves are 

 from six inches to one foot in length, and much waved and 

 crisped along the margins. The panicles are erect and 

 branched, and consist of crowded whorls of small reddish 

 or greenish flowers; the fruits are triangular and brown. 

 Flowering takes place from June to October. 



Other docks are more or less similar to R. obtusifolius and 

 R. crispus — for example, R. pratensis, L., and, in damp grass 

 land, R. aquaticus, L. — and all are harmful when they occur 

 in either arable or grass land. The species already described 

 are common to almost all soils, and unfortunately possess the 

 power of producing adventitious buds on their roots. Should 

 a dock be cut off well below the crown, the portion of the root 

 left in the soil will at once produce adventitious buds, 



