Rumex crispus L.

Photos by: Laura A. Wingate, Botanical Gardens, Athens, GA

• Curly Dock
• Curled Dock
• Yellow Dock
• Sour Dock
• Narrow Dock
• Bladder Dock

What does the Yellow dock look like? 1. SEEDLING: has oblong cotyledons and the first real leaves are ovate and petioled. 2. FIRST YEAR: a rosette and a thick taproot form. 3. MATURE PLANT: Can be up to 1.5 meters tall. Stems are smooth. Stem leaves are alternate and sessile. There are coarse hairs on the leaves and lower parts of the stems. Taproot smells and tastes like a radish. When the plant is mature it turns a reddish-brown color. This information is from the Weed Program in Oregon
Who is the authority? Rumex crispuswas first described by Carolus Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum in 1753. The book is written in Latin, so I checked the Index Kiwensis to make sure that he was the first person to describe it. I found the following entries: "crispus, Cham. &Schlecht. in Linnaea, iii. (1828)=longifolius/ crispus, Linn. Sp. Pl. 335-Europ.; As. bor./ crispus, Lour. Fl. Cochinch. 216=maritimus" (Jackson, et. al., 1895). It seems to me that Linnaeus was the first person to name the species and that the other two entries are for people who named Rumex crispus something else instead of recognizing it as R. crispus.
Finding the holotype of this species: I could not find the location of the holotype for R. crispus. Perhaps the location is named in Species Plantarum, but I could not find an English translation for the text. I did find a website that gives the locations of some herbarium specimens in the Mid-west.
Finding this species in a key: Rumex crispus is described in the journal Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift in the article "Rumex Subgenus Rumex in the Flora Nordic Area" by Sven Snogerup. Although the article is written in German, I was still able to determine the other species that are described and thus determine which other species are related to R. crispus.

GEOGRAPHY

Rumex crispus
AREA	STATUS	REFERENCES
North America: Continental United States; Canada	Yes	Frankton, 1956 and U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Eastern North America: United States east of Mississippi;  Ontario and eastern Canada	Yes	Frankton, 1956 and U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Southeastern United States: AL AR DE DC FL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Southern Appalachian States: AL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Coastal Plain	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Piedmont	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Blue Ridge Mountains	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Great Smoky Mountains National Park	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Ridge and Valley	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Cumberland Plateau	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Georgia	Yes	U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1970
Clarke County, Georgia	Yes	personal observation

NATURAL HISTORY

Habitat and Diet. Rumex crispus is a common perennial that is from Eurasia and is now found throughout the United States and Canada. It grows best in nutrient-rich, sandy and moist soil. For prime germination conditions, light and/or alternating temperatures are best. Ethylene gas has been found to increase germination in the light. (Click here for more info on germination)

Life Cycle and Seasonal Activity. R. crispus reproduces by seed. These seeds germinate in early spring, late summer, or fall. The cotyledon blades of the seedling are oblong, taper at the base and are dull green and fleshy. The plant may stay in its seedling stage over the winter. As the plant matures, it produces a fruit constricted by two seeds. One plant may produce up to 160 seeds. At maturity, the plant can grow up to 1.5 meters and the entire plant turns reddish-brown. R. crispus flowers between June and September.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN FIND THIS BEAUTIFUL WEED:
What to look for: The easiest way to identify Rumex crispus is by looking for the wavy leaves of the adult plant. In fact, the word crispus is a Latin word that means "curled" and refers to these easily identifiable leaves. The taproot is also a distinguising characteristic. It is as thick as the stem and very difficult to pull from the ground. If broken, the taproot is fleshy inside. Where can you find some of you very own yellow dock? This weed is found throughout the U.S. and Canada. Specifically, it likes to grow in wet fields, near shores, in ditches and other low areas and waste areas (Yuck!). When can you find it? This plant flowers between June and September and upon full maturity, it turns a brownish-red color.

Photograph by W. H. Duncan on June 16, 1997. Photo was taken 3 miles east of Athens, GA. Photogragh courtsey of the University of Georgia Herbarium. Copyright Department of Botany, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. All rights reserved.


REFERENCES
Brako, Lois, amy Y. Rossman and David F. Farr. Scientific and Common Names of 7000 Vascular Plants in the U.S. APS Press. (1995). 294 pages.

Datta, Subhash Chandra. A Handbook of Systemic Botany Asia Publishing House, NY. (1970). 562 pages.

Frankton, Clarence. Weeds of Canada Queens Printer and Controller of Stationary. (1956). 169 pages.

Jackson, Daydon and Joseph D. Hooker. Index Kewensis. vol. 2 The Claredon Press, Oxford. (1895). 1299 pages.

Linnaeus, Carolus. Species Plantarum vol 3. (1753).

Maot, Emm Le and J. Decaisne. A General System of Botany Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer Paternoster Row. (1873). 305 pages.

Snogerup, Sven. "Rumex Subgenus Rumex in the Flora Nordic Area." In Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift. vol. 85 no. 4 (1991). P 249-260.

United States Department of Agriculture. Selected Weeds of the United States. United States Government Printing Office (1970). 463 pages.


Common names | Higher taxa | Identification | Geography | Natural History | Finding it | Other info. | References