Rumex obtusifolius

The inflorescence of bitter dock is a panicle of whorled racemes up to a foot long. The greenish-red flowers droop from 1/2″ pedicels. Individual flowers are 1/4″ long with six tepals (six sepals and six similar petals) with pistillate (female) and male (staminate) flowers mixed in each inflorescence. Pistillate flowers have a single pistil, three styles with fringe-like, divided stigmas, and inner tepals that are (often) red; staminate flowers have six stamens and dull yellow inner tepals. After fertilization, the inner tepals of the pistillate flowers enlarge and surround an expanding, hard-shelled, three-sided seed with three membranous wings, each wing with 2-4 spiny teeth along their free edges. The fruits turn bright red as they mature.

Bitter dock is an exotic originally from Europe; it’s a pretty typical Rumex species that ranges from 2-3.5 feet tall. Early in the spring, bitter dock consists of a basal rosette of hairless leaves up to a foot long and 4″ across, with long, slender petioles. The basal leaves resemble those of curly dock with undulate margins and shiny leaf blades, but the central vein is often tinted red and the leaf base is heart-shaped; a network of fine veins covers the blade. Eventually, one or more robust, slightly ribbed stalks, circular in section, arise from within the basal rosette, often with red-tinted longitudinal veins; eventually the stalks produce the inflorescences at their tips and along their length in leaf axils. Stem leaves are alternate, generally similar to the basal leaves but smaller, often much narrower, and with shorter petioles.

Bitter dock is an exotic originally from Europe; it’s a pretty typical Rumex species that ranges from 2-3.5 feet tall. Early in the spring, bitter dock consists of a basal rosette of hairless leaves up to a foot long and 4″ across, with long, slender petioles. The basal leaves resemble those of curly dock with undulate margins and shiny leaf blades, but the central vein is often tinted red and the leaf base is heart-shaped; a network of fine veins covers the blade. Eventually, one or more robust, slightly ribbed stalks, circular in section, arise from within the basal rosette, often with red-tinted longitudinal veins; eventually the stalks produce the inflorescences at their tips and along their length in leaf axils. Stem leaves are alternate, generally similar to the basal leaves but smaller, often much narrower, and with shorter petioles. The inflorescence of bitter dock is a panicle of whorled racemes up to 1′ long. The greenish-red flowers droop from 1/2″ pedicels. Individual flowers are 1/4″ long with six tepals (six sepals and six similar petals) with pistillate (female) and male (staminate) flowers mixed in each inflorescence. Pistillate flowers have a single pistil, three styles with fringe-like, divided stigmas, and inner tepals that are (often) red; staminate flowers have six stamens and dull yellow inner tepals. After fertilization, the inner tepals of the pistillate flowers enlarge and surround an expanding, hard-shelled, three-sided seed with three membranous wings, each wing with 2-4 spiny teeth along their free edges. The fruits turn bright red as they mature. Note that more mature curly dock fruit can take on a distinct reddish tint, superficially looking like bitter dock fruit, but curly dock fruits will never show the long tooth- or finger-like projections from the edges of the wings that bitter dock exhibits. Bitter dock prefers moist, disturbed soils. Bitter dock was first described from the Great Lakes region in the 1840s.