Rumex crispus L.

Curly Dock; Yellow Dock

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Curly Dock is an introduced herbaceous perennial in the Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). It is native to Asia and Europe. In Alabama it occurs statewide. Curly Dock occurs on roadsides and railroad margins, along ditches and streams, in the margins of fields and pastures, on urban lots, and in other disturbed areas. It is a perennial from a thick vertical fusiform rootstock. Stems are erect, 2-3 feet in height, usually branched above the middle, glabrous, and green or reddish brown in color. Leaves are basal and alternate along the stem, petiolate, lanceolate in outline, glabrous, and with undulate and strongly crisped margins. Flowers are produced in dense terminal panicles. Flowers are in whorls of 10-25. The perianth is greenish, campanulate, glabrous, with 6 tepals and 6 stamens. The three outer tepals are smaller. The fruit is an achene. Curly Dock is the most common and widespread member of the genus. It occurs worldwide in a variety of habitats. It forms hybrids with many other species of Rumex.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native FACW (NWPL)

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