Dock (Rumex)

..... 1)lvs generally hastate or sagittate 1)lvs not hastate or sagittate ..... .....
..... ..... lvs flat lvs w/ crisped margins clearly or often cordate at base
2)valves about equaling the achene & closely investing it red sheep sorrel (1.acetosella) fields, lawns, waste places in acid soils, Eurasian intro ..... .....  
2)valves expanded into broad, reticulate wings much exceeding the achene ..... ..... .....  
3) one or more valves w/ a conspicuous basal grain green sheep sorrel (2.acetosa) lvs mainly sagittate; occasional weed; CN and PA northward ..... .....  
3)valves w/out grains wild sheep sorrel (3.hastatatulus) lvs mainly hastate (or entire); sandy soil of the coastal plain; MA to FL ..... .....  
4) valves without grains ..... yard dock (4.longifolius = long-leaved) European, mostly in n. .....  
4) valves (or at least one of them) w/ a prominent grain ..... ..... .....  
8) valves little if at all wider than the face of the achene ..... (18.conglomeratus) waste places; from Europe .....  
8) valves notably wider than the achene ..... ..... .....  
9) margins of the valves entire to dentate or undulate ..... ..... .....  
10) base of the grain distinctly above the base of the valve ..... (18.orbiculatus)    
10) base of the grain even w/ the base of the valve, ore projecting below it ..... ..... ..... .....
11) fr w/ one grain, this much less than half as long as the valve ..... ..... ..... patience dock (9.patientia = the old colloquial name) sub- cordate at base; waste places
11) fr with 1-3 grains, the larger ones at least half as long as the valve ..... ..... ..... .....
12) pedicles 2-5 times as long as the fr; grains 3, projecting below the valves ..... water dock (10.verticillatus) swamps & wet lowland woods ..... .....
12) pedicels seldom more than twice as lon as the fr; grains 1-3, not projecting below the valves ..... ..... ..... .....
13) grains two-thirds as wide as long ..... ..... curly dock (11.crispus) lvs crisp-margined; subcordate at base; roadsides, fields, waste places .....
13) grains up to half as wide as long; lvs flat ..... ..... ..... .....
14) valve evidently longer & much more than twice as wide as the grain ..... ..... ..... .....
15) valves broadly rotund-ovate, very obtuse; grain 1(-3) ..... pale dock (12.altissimus) lvs all cauline; swamps & wet soil ..... .....
15) valves deltoid-ovate, subacute; grains 3 ..... willow-leaved dock (13.salicifolius = willow-leaved, Salix) pale green or glaucous; moist, often brackish or saline soil ..... .....
14) valve not much longer than and about twice as wide as the grain ..... seabeach dock (14.pallidus) glaucous; sandy or rocky beaches & coastal swamps ..... .....
9) margins of the valves with a few long, slender, spinose or bristly teeth ..... ..... ..... ......
16) well developed grain 1, perennials ..... ..... ..... .....
17) verticils all separate; pedicels about equaling the fr ..... ..... ..... fiddle dock (15.pulcher = beautiful) lvs. basally disposed
17) upper verticils contiguous; pedicels much longer than the fr ..... ..... ..... bitter dock (16.obtusifolius = blunt-leaved) waste ground, esp. in moist soil
16) well developed grains 3; annuals ..... ..... ..... golden dock (17.maritimus = maritime) subcordate at base; shores, streambanks & wet ground

Sheep sorrel (R. acetosella), with running rootstalks, is especially favored by acid soils low in nutrients. In pure stands the flowers are sufficiently showy to be attractive, and bees and small butterflies serve as pollinators. The seeds are eaten by ground-feeding songbirds and the leaves, or even whole plants, by rabbits and deer.

11/24/1748. Red is dyed with brazilwood, and also with a kind of moss which grows on the trees here. Blue is dyed with indigo, but to get black, the leaves of the common field sorrel (Rumex acetosella) are boiled with the material to be dyed, which is then dried and boiled against with logwood and copperas. The black thus produced is said to be very durable. The people spin and weave a great part of their every-day apparel and dye it in their houses. Flax is cultivated by many people and succeeds very well, but hemp is not used here. P. 184-185.

Bitter dock (R. obtusifolius) has heart-shaped leaves with reddish veins and calyx lobes with toothed margins. These introduced species are common pasture, meadow, garden, or roadside weeds. The young leaves have a rather pleasantly bitter, lemonish, flavor and can be used with other greens in salads.

Kalm. 4/18/1749. Both the Swedish and English settlers are in the spring accustomed to prepare greens from various plants of which the following are the most important; Rumex crispus L. is a kind of sorrel which grows at the edge of cultivated fields and elsewhere in rather low land. Farmers choose a variety which has green leaves instead of pale colored ones.. All sorrel is not suitable for greens, for the leaves of some are very bitter. These green leaves are gathered at this time everywhere and used by some people in the same way that Swedes prepare spinach. But they generally boil the leaves in the water in which they had cooked meat. Then they eat it along or with the meat. P. 285.