Rumex crispus - Curled Dock
Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Caryophyllales - Family: Polygonaceae
Description
This member of the knotweed/buckwheat family can grow to more than a metre in height, although about 60cm is more usual.
Curled Dock has ribbed reddish stems, distinctive slender curled leaves, and oval flattened green flowers that gradually turn pinkish as the fruits develop.
Distribution
This perennial wildflower is common throughout the UK and Ireland.
Flowering times
The flower heads turn from green through orange and red to brown between June and early September.
Habitat
Being a salt-tolerant plant, Curled Dock often grows in shoreline gravel and on disturbed ground beside coastal paths. Roadside verges, wasteland and some riverside margins that have been fenced off to keep cattle and sheep out are also ideal habitat for this perennial plant, which also occurs in some permanent pastures.
Similar species
Apart from Buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum, the well known Broad-leaved Dock whose leaves are used to aleviate nettle stings, and Common Sorrel Rumex acetosa, other members of the Knotweed/Buckwheat family include French Sorrel, a small, slimmer relative of Curled Dock, and the invasive alien plant Japanese knotweed.
Etymology
Rumex, the genus name for docks and sorrels, may come from the Latin noun rumex, meaning a dart or a jevelin - a reference ton the narrow pointed leaves. The specific epithet crispus means crinkled or curled.
The pictures shown on this page was taken in June and July in Wales.
Please Help Us: If you have found this information interesting and useful, please consider helping to keep First Nature online by making a small donation towards the web hosting and internet costs.
Any donations over and above the essential running costs will help support the conservation work of Plantlife, the Rivers Trust and charitable botanic gardens - as do author royalties and publisher proceeds from books by Pat and Sue.