Rumex sagittatus Thunb.
climbing dock
Climbing or scrambling, dioecious or monoecious perennial with tuberous woody rootstock; stems to c. 3 m long, glabrous, flexuous. Lvs all similar. Petioles slender, = or often > lamina. Lamina 3-8 × 2-6 cm, ± triangular or hastate with 2 long basal lobes at 45° to petiole, otherwise entire, slightly puberulent on main veins below when young; sinus broad and rounded; apex acuminate to cuspidate. Panicle pyramidal, with small lvs in the lower axils only. Pedicels filiform, long, glabrous. Perianth 1.5-2 mm long, green; outer segments ± ovate-oblong, becoming strongly reflexed in ♀ fls. Fr. valves (4)-6-9-(9.5) mm diam., orbicular, entire, prominently reticulate, cordate, yellow, pink to crimson; tubercles 0. Nuts c. 3 mm long, glossy light brown; keels almost winged.
N.: coastal areas, especially from N. Auckland to Bay of Plenty, but also extending S. to Wellington; S.: mainly in coastal parts of Tasman Bay (Nelson), occasional in the Blenheim and Picton areas (Marlborough).
South Africa 1935
Often on or near hedges in settled areas, spreading to waste sites, roadsides, and footpaths, also gardens.
FL Nov-Mar.
Climbing dock is sometimes cultivated for its ornamental fruiting valves and has been used for dyeing wool. The persistent tubers can exceed 10 cm diam., especially in old plants on light soil. Although very different in habit and in many morphological characters, R. sagittatus is placed in subgen. Acetosa with the true sorrels (Rechinger, op. cit.).
The record of R. scutatus L., French sorrel, by Allan, H. H., Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 65: 4 (1935), was based on plants of R. sagittatus judging from his brief description. However, R. scutatus is cultivated in N.Z. (see under R. acetosa).
