Dock & Knotweed Family [Polygonaceae] |
status
flower
flower
flower
morph
petals
(3+3)type
type
stem
stem
rarity
(ssp. uliginosus)
Rumex crispus ssp. crispusCommonest InlandPhotos still to do... |
Rumex crispus ssp. littoreusCommonest by the Sea |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
Usually very near the sea and less than 1m tall. |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
colour varies depending upon ripeness of fruits, from green through pink to finally brown. Sea Mayweed in foreground, Common Cord-Grass in middle-ground. |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
Branches densely populated with fruits. |
6th Sept 2015, near the sea, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Fruits dangling in whorls. |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
Usually takes on a reddish-brown or pink coloration. |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
There are three shield-shaped tepals (2.5 - 3.5mm long) in which the smaller (< 3.5mm) white egg-shaped to pear-shaped (where they are longer) tubercles nest; these are the fruits. |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
The turbercles may redden with the rest of the plant. In ssp. littoreus there are usually three tubercles, one for each tepal, but they are of slightly differing sizes. (In ssp. crispus there is usually only one fully-developed tubercle per achene, the rest being either absent or much smaller). |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
6th Sept 2015, near the sea, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
1st Aug 2013, saltmarsh, Hightown, Sefton Coast | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves are narrow, oblong to lanceolate to elliptic, and deeply crisped (wrinkly) at the edges. (But in the hybrid with Broad-leaved Dockthe leaves are only slightly crisped) |
6th Sept 2015, near the sea, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
In the sub-species ssp. littoreus, which grows by the sea (as here), there are usually three more-or-less equally sized oblong fruits, as opposed to usually having only one fruit. The three fruits are on each side of a 'tri-star' arrangement of 3 tepals. |
6th Sept 2015, near the sea, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The fruits are white at first and covered in slight and tiny ripples. |
6th Sept 2015, near the sea, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The tepals have a network of raised veins but virtually no teeth. |
There are three sub-species, two of which are common:
The third sub-species, Rumex crispus ssp. uliginosus grows on tidal mud in estuaries, but that is a very rare [RRR] and occurs in Southern Britain and Southern Ireland. It is often higher than 1m with the fruits loosely clustered (whereas ssp. littoreus is usually lower than 1m the fruits densely clustered).
Hybridizes with : almost every other dock, such as Wood Dock,
The most common Dock hybrid out of all possible dock hybrids is that of With such a diverse and prolific number of docks with which Curled Dock can hybridize, your Author can never be sure whether all the above photos are of the pure strain. But seeing as the Sefton Coast is nowhere near Southern Britain, he can be sure that no ssp. uliginosus are mis-represented under ssp. littoreus.
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Rumex | crispus | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Polygonaceae |
crispus |
sens. lat. |
littoreus |
Rumex (Docks) |
Dock & Knotweed Family [Polygonaceae] |