Bitter Dock Flower Bitter Dock Plant Bitter Dock Leaves Bitter Dock Stem

Wildflowers of Southern Arizona


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Bitter Dock.
Rumex obtusifolius.
Buckwheat (Polygonaceae) family.

Plants: perennial, glabrous or ± papillose especially on veins of leaf blades abaxially, with fusi-form, vertical rootstock. Stems erect, branched distal to middle or occasionally in distal 2/ 3, often with few flowering stems from rootstock, 60-120(-150) cm. Leaves: ocrea deciduous to partially persistent at maturity; blade oblong to ovate-oblong, sometimes broadly ovate, 20-40 × 10-15 cm, usually less than 4 times as long as wide, base normally distinctly cordate, occasionally rounded, rarely truncate, margins normally entire, flat or undulate, rarely slightly crisped, apex obtuse or subacute. Inflorescences terminal, occupying distal 2/ 3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted, narrowly or broadly paniculate, branches usually forming angle of 30-45° with 1st-order stem. Pedicels articulated in proximal 1/3 or rarely near middle, filiform, 2.5-8.5(-10) mm, articulation distinctly swollen. Flowers 10-25 in lax whorls; inner tepals ovate-triangular, deltoid or, occasionally, lingulate, 3-6 × 2-3.5 mm (excluding teeth), ca. 1.5-2 times as long as wide, base truncate, margins usually distinctly dentate, rarely subentire, apex obtuse to subacute, straight, teeth 2-5, normally at each side of margin, short-subulate or triangular-subulate, straight, 0.5-1.8 mm, or shorter than width of inner tepals; tubercle usually 1, sometimes 3, then 1 distinctly larger, smooth. Achenes brown to reddish brown, 2-2.7 × 1.2-1.7 mm. Misc. Flowering late spring-early fall. Waste places, roadsides, fields, shores, meadows, wet woods, swamps.

Santa Catalina Mountains.
Marshall Gulch
Location: Beside access road to Marshall Gulch Trail at bridge to first parking area.
7/14/15

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