Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Curly Dock
Rumex crispus
Smartweed-Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae)

Introduced from Europe, Curly Dock is now found across much of North America. Young leaves are rich in vitamins A and C, and are edible raw or cooked in small quantities, but the oxalic acid often in the plant can be injurious. Western Dock (R. aquaticus) is a similar species that has unbranched stems below the flower cluster and often heart-shaped leaf bases. Plant can be invasive.


©2004 Anthony Valois and the National Park Service

Description

Stout , 2-5' tall. Yellow to green 6-parted flowers in dense . Flower stalks conspicuously jointed near base. Leaves large, narrowly , blunt-tipped with curly, wavy margins. Stems often red. are smooth .

Field Marks

Green-yellow flower on stout leafy plants; leaves with curly margins.

© Al Schneider

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

A spike is an unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence in which the flowers are without stalks.

whorled -- The leaves are arranged in whorls of 3 or more leaves along the stems of a plant.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.