Dock

Description

Rumex lapponicus (Hiitonen) Czernov in B. N. Gorodkov and A. I. Pojarkova, Fl. Murmansk. Obl. 3: 154. 1956. Plants perennial, glabrous or nearly so, with short and relatively thin, horizontal or slightly oblique rootstock (usually not reaching deep into substrate) and - crowded 2d-order roots (occasionally with short-creeping rhizome). Stems erect, rarely ascending, several from base or often solitary, branched in distal 1/2 (in inflorescence), (10-)20-60(-100) cm. Leaves: ocrea of at least middle and distal leaves with margins entire, not fringed, sometimes laciniate but only in distal parts; blade broadly ovate, rarely almost round, oblong-ovate, rarely oblong-lanceolate, 3-10(-14) - 1-4(-5) cm, normally less than 2.5 times as long as wide, base sagittate (with acute or subacute lobes directed downward, - parallel to petiole, or slightly incurved inward), margins entire, normally flat, apex subacute or obtuse. Inflorescences terminal, occupying distal 1/ 3 of stem, usually lax and interrupted especially in proximal part, narrowly paniculate or occasionally simple, cylindric (with 1st-order branches simple, or with few 2d-order branches). Pedicels articulated near middle, filiform, 2-5 mm, articulation distinct. Flowers (2-)4-8 in whorls; inner tepals orbiculate, occasionally broadly ovate, 3.5-4.5 - 3.5-4.5 mm, base rounded or cordate, apex obtuse; tubercles small or occasionally absent. Achenes brown or dark brown to brownish yellow, 1.7-2.5 - 0.9-1.3 mm, dull. 2n = 14 (pistillate plants), 15 (staminate plants). Flowering late spring-summer. Meadows, rock outcrops, alluvial habitats along rivers and streams in tundra and montane and subalpine zones; 0-2500 m; Greenland; Alta., B.C., N.W.T., Yukon; Alaska, Mont., Wyo; n Eurasia.