RUMEX 
149 
16. RUMEX MARITIMUS. Golden Dock. Plate 152 
Lapathum folio acuto fore aureo Johnson Merc. Bot. ii, 24 (1641); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 142 (1724). 
Rumex maritimus L. Sp. PI. 335 (1753)!; Miller Gard. Diet. ed. 8, no. 10 (1768) incl. R. aureus ; 
Stokes in Withering, Bot. Arr. ed. 2, i, 371 (1787); Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 42 (1868); Rouy FI. France xii, 78 
(1910); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 703 (1912); R. aureus Miller Gard. Diet. ed. 8, no. 8 (1768) inch R. 
maritimus ; Relhan FI. Cantab. 147 (1785). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 725; FI. Dan. t. 1208; Beck in Reichenbach Icon, xxiv, t. 186. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 152. ( a ) Flowering shoot. (b) Lower leaf. ( c ) Persistent perianth-segments 
(two enlarged). Huntingdonshire (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 1948; Fries, i, 54; v. Heurck et Martinis, iv, 184; Schultz, vi, 554; Thielens et Devos, 
i, 30; Wirtgen, viii, 399; Herb. FI. Ingric. x, 524. 
Biennial. Stems erect, about 5 — 7 dm. high, rather slender, rather zigzag, leafy, branched, ultimately 
of a golden-brown colour. Petioles much shorter than the laminae. Laminae ultimately of a golden- 
brown colour ; of the ground-leaves lanceolate, obtuse at the base, more or less wavy ; of the in- 
florescence, linear. Inflorescence with whorls usually confluent. Flowers appearing in late July or 
early August about 2 weeks later than R. limosus. Fruiting segments ovate-triangular, margin with 
very slender teeth, teeth about twice as long as the segment is broad, each segment with a 
narrow linear tubercle. Achenes very small, ovate-triangular, acute, yellowish brown. 
The trivial name maritimus of this species is misleading : in this country the plant usually occurs in non-maritime habitats. 
Marshes, fens, river-banks ; local ; chiefly in eastern England, and at low levels only. From 
the Channel Isles, Cornwall (rare), Dorset, and Kent to Cheshire, Cumberland, and Northumberland ; 
said to be adventitious in some of its northerly stations and in Wales (Radnorshire); Ireland (co. 
Cork, co. Limerick, co. Wexford). 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, central Europe, southern Europe, 
Russia, Caucasus; central Asia; North and South America. Ascends to 330m. in Bayeux (Sendtner). 
R. glomeratus x maritimus (cf. p. 144). 
