146 
RUMEX 
14. RUMEX CONDYLODES. Wood Dock. Plate 150 
Lapathum viride Dillenius in Ray Syn. ed. 3, 141 (1724). 
Rumex condylodes Bieberstein FI. Taur.-Cauc. i, 288 (1808); R. sanguineus var. viridis Sibthorp 1 FI. 
Oxon. 118.(1794); Smith 1 FI. Brit. 390 (1800)!; Koch Syn. 613 (1837); Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 41 (1868); Rouy 
FI. France xii, 75 (1910); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 719 (1912); R. nemorosus [Schrader ex] Willdenow 
Enum. Hort. Berol. 397 (1809); Lapathum viride Gray Nat. Arr. ii, 274 (1821). 
leones; — FI. Dan. t. 2249, as R. nemolapathum ; Beck in Reichenbach Icon, xxiv, t. 167, as R. sanguineus. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 150. (a) Flowering shoot. ( b ) Lower part of stem, with leaf. ( c ) Ground-leaf. 
(d) Flowers (enlarged). ( e ) The three persistent perianth-segments of a single fruit. Huntingdon (E. W. H.). 
Previous figures by British botanists purporting to be of this species have been singularly unfortunate, for neither the 
plate in Curtis’ FI. Lond. nor the one in the Eng. Bot. can be regarded as correct. 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 3 767, as R. sanguineus var. viridis ; Fries, i, 53, as R. nemolapathum ; Ehrhart herb, 
as R. nemolapathum. 
Perennial. Stem up to about 1 m. high, branched, branches suberect. Petioles of the ground- 
leaves nearly as long as the laminae. Laminae of the ground-leaves ovate-lanceolate, rounded to 
subcordate at the base, crenulate, acute ; of the inflorescence subsessile. Inflorescence lax, leafless 
except at or near the base, more or less branched, branches suberect ; whorls separate, few-flowered. 
Pedicels equalling or longer than the fruiting-segments, jointed almost at the base. Flowers ap- 
pearing in late June, 2 — 4 weeks earlier than in R. glomeratus. Anthers sulphur-yellow before 
dehiscence. Fruiting segments oblong, rounded at the base, entire, more obtuse than in R. sanguineus , 
about 3 — 4 mm. long ; one with a narrowly ovate tubercle ; the others either destitute of tubercles 
or with rather indistinct tubercles. Achenes ovate-elliptical, brown, shining. 
(ft) forma sanguinalis comb. nov. ; R. sanguineus auct. pi., non L. 
Veins turning to a bright rusty red or scarlet colour in autumn. 
This state is often confused with R. sanguineus. 
Damp woods, shady hedge-bottoms, sides of ditches, damp shady waste places. Very common ; 
from the Channel Isles, Cornwall and Kent to Argyllshire, Elginshire, and Orkney. Apparently 
rare in the west and north of Scotland ; in every county in Ireland ; ascending to about 350 m. 
in Perthshire. 
Southern Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, central and 
southern Russia, southern Europe; Caucasus; Asia Minor; central Asia; northern Africa; North and 
South America (not indigenous). Ascends to 1000 m. in south-eastern Europe. 
R. condylodes -x glomeratus comb, nov.; R. conglomeratus x sanguineus Haussknecht in Mitt. 
Geogr. Gesellsch. ( Thilring .) Jena iii, 73 (1885); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 720 (1912); x R. ruhmeri 
Haussknecht loc. cit. 
leones: — Curtis FI. Lond. i, t. 62, as R. acutus ; Beck in Reichenbach Icon, xxiv, t. 171, as R. conglomeratus 
x sanguineus. 
Trimen ( Journ . Bot. xiv, 310 (1876)) refers t. 1533 of the Eng. Bot. (as R. sanguineus ) to this hybrid. 
Stem erect, branches usually ascending. Laminae narrow as in R. glomeratus. Inflorescence 
rather leafy but not nearly so much so as in R. glomeratus , whorls usually few-flowered. Fruiting 
segments entire, with 3 oblong-oval tubercles of different sizes. Achenes frequently not ripening. 
In habit, the forms of R. glomeratus x condylodes frequently simulate R. rupestris ; their fruits are smaller than in this 
species. 
Perhaps the “ trigranulate nemorosus ,” distributed by the late Rev. A. Ley (vide, e.g., Bot. Exch Club Brit. Rep. for 1872 — 4, 
p. 30) should be placed here. 
As R. glomeratus and R. condylodes are closely allied and often grow in close propinquity, we should have expected 
putative hybrids between them to be abundant. This, however, does not appear to be the case ; or, if it is, then the hybrids 
are difficult to distinguish. R. condylodes comes into flower a fortnight to a month earlier than R. glomeratus ; but 
autumnal states of the former are not infrequently in flower at the same times as R. glomeratus. 
Damp places, growing with the supposed parents ; Sussex, Surrey, Herefordshire, Cambridgeshire, Staffordshire. 
Germany. 
1 This plant is frequently cited as “ Rumex viridis Sibthorp” or “ Rumex viridis Smith”; but botanists who cite it 
thus cannot have consulted the work of Sibthorp or of Smith. 
