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Rumex

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The docks and sorrels, genus Rumex L., are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae.

Members of this family are very common perennial herbs growing in acidic, sour soils mainly in the northern hemisphere, but have been introduced almost everywhere.

Many are nuisance weeds (and are sometimes called dockweed or dock weed), but some (notably the Common Sorrel, Rumex acetosa) have edible leaves, used in soups and salads.

These are erect plants with long tap roots. The fleshy to leathery leaves form a basal rosette at the root. The basal leaves may be different from those near the inflorescence. They may or may not have stipules. There are minor leaf veins. The leaf blade margins are entire or crenate.

The inconspicuous flowers are carried above the leaves in whorl-like clusters. The fertile flowers are mostly hermaphrodite, or they can be functionally male or female. The flowers and seeds grow on long clusters at the top of a stalk emerging from the basal rosette. Each seed is an 3-sided achene.

Rumex species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Rumex.

These plants have many uses. Broad-leaved Dock (Rumex obtusifolius) used to be called Butter Dock because its large leaves have been used to wrap and conserve butter. Most of them contain oxalic acid and tannin. They have astringent and slightly purgative qualities. In the UK, crushed dock leaves are a traditional remedy for the sting of nettles and one that is surprisingly widely known, perhaps due to the abundance of nettles and the fact that Rumex plants often live nearby in the same sorts of habitat [link].

Species

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