Rumex conglomeratus Murray
clustered dock
Glabrous, short-lived, tap-rooted perennial; stems rather thin, wiry, flexuous, spreading, green to dark red, to c. 1 m tall. Petioles of basal lvs often very long, particularly in subaquatic plants. Lamina of lower lvs (3)-7-20-(23) × (1)-1.5-3.5 cm, oblong or ovate-oblong, ± membranous; margin often undulate and crisped; base broad-cuneate, rounded or cordate; apex acute or subacute. Stem lvs progressively smaller and extending c. ⅔ along infl. branches. Infl. many-branched, spreading and flexuous, becoming twisted. Whorls all distant; fls probably protandrous, ⚥, small, dense. Pedicels slender, reddish. Perianth (0.7)-1-5 mm long; outer segments ovate, obtuse, not reflexing at fruiting; inner segments greatly enlarging at fruiting. Fruiting valves 2-2.8-(3.2) mm long, ovate, reticulate, entire, rounded at apex, generally becoming dark red, each with a large tubercle occupying ?-3/4 valve width. Nut 1.5-2 mm long, dark glossy brown or reddish brown, acutely angled.
N.; S.: throughout.
Europe, N. Africa, Asia Minor 1867
Usually damp places such as river banks and beds, ditches, drains and swampy places, also pastures and waste places in high rainfall areas, sometimes just above high tide level on beaches.
FL Nov-Apr.
The closely related R. sanguineus L., red-veined dock, has been recorded from N.Z. by several writers, notably Allan (1940). No specimens have been found and plants may have been confused with R. conglomeratus which can be very reddish also, particularly when fruiting. R. sanguineus is best distinguished from R. conglomeratus by the fruiting valves, 2 of which are without tubercles and on the third of which the tubercle occupies < 1/2 the width.
