Scientific name: Rumex crispus L.
Common name: Curled Dock
Description
Habit: A hairless perennial, to 2 m high.
Stems: Erect.
Leaves: Alternate, up to 20 cm long, undivided, untoothed, narrowly lanceolate, margins often strongly wavy; stipules united to form a sheath surrounding stem or leaf stalk.
Flowers: Actinomorphic, stalked, in whorls forming stout and dense, terminal and axillary panicles which are leafy at the base; tepals 6, broadly oval, 4-5 mm long, not winged, inner 3 larger and enlarging in fruit, with swellings, often 1 swelling larger than the other 2; stamens 6; ovary superior, 1-celled, style 3.
Fruits: A small nut, 3-angled.
Habitat: Stony seashores, sand-dunes, roadsides, pastures, cultivated ground.Distribution: Abundant almost throughout.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No
Subspecies:
Rumex crispus subsp. crispus
R. crispus subsp. uliginosus (Le Gall) Akeroyd
Subsp. crispus has a smaller fruit (up to 2.5 mm across). Subsp. uliginosus has a larger fruit (at least 2.5 mm across) and a panicle that is rather lax in fruit; it occurs on tidal estuarine mud.