Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Rumex obtusifolius subsp. obtusifolius
Common name
Broadleaf dock
Family
Polygonaceae
Where found
Weed in disturbed sites and damp places, ditches, and beside creeks, drains etc. Mainly Sydney area and Blue Mountains. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced perennial herb to 1 m high. Leaves basal and alternating up the stems, with a sheath at the base of the stalk, bases cordate; margins flat or wavy. Basal leaves 12–30 cm long, 60–150 mm wide. Stem leaves alternating up the stems, reduced, relatively narrower than the basal leaves. Flowers small, with 6 'petals', in 15–40-flowered whorls mostly separated by about 1–10 cm, the lower whorls often subtended by a small leaf. Inflorescence often about half the height of the plant. Flowers mainly Dec.–Mar. Seed cases 1–3-toothed near the base, rarely almost entire, usually only 1 valve developing a rounded lump up to about one-third as long as the valve.
Can hybridise with Rumex crispus.
Rumex obtusifolius in PlantNET.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rumex~obtusifolius (accessed 18 March 2021)
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