Plant. Photo: Don Wood, ACT

Fruiting bodies. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: AN Schmidt-Lebuhn, Illunie Nature Reserve, NSW

Basal leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: AN Schmidt-Lebuhn, Illunie Nature Reserve, NSW

Common Name

Slender Dock, Swamp Dock

Family

Polygonaceae

Notes

Perennial forb to about 1m tall. Leaves with a sheath at the base, mostly basal, 3-13cm long, 10-40mm wide, flat, hairless, bases sometimes with rounded or almost pointed lobes. Stem leaves few, small, confined to the lowest third of the stem. Flowers with 6 'petals', in whorls of 5-16 flowers up the stems, forming long racemes at the tops of the stems.

Resembles Rumex tenax but the leaves are broader, and the fruiting bodies have a hooked point and 2-6 hooked teeth on each side.

Description and photo (page 234) and line drawing of the fruiting body (Fig. 45a page 235)  in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rumex~brownii