Rumex crispus

Curly Dock, Curled Dock

[not native to the Mid-Atlantic area]

[ click on any image below to see larger version ]

Family: Polygonaceae (Smartweed family)

Mid-Atlantic bloom time: May - June
Mid-Atlantic fruit ripe: May - July

Curly Dock has large (14–35 cm long) leaves with distinctive curly/waved edges. Its flowering stalk bolts up in late spring from a rosette of basal leaves. Each yellowish or reddish green flower is about 3mm long and consists of 3 inner sepals, 3 outer sepals, 3 styles, and an ovary. Each plant has both perfect (bisexual) and pistillate (female), which also have 6 stamens.

It is native to western Eurasia and North Africa.

10 June 2016 Manassas, VA	13 June 2025 Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA	10 June 2016 Manassas, VA	13 June 2025 Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA
13 June 2025 Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA	13 June 2025 Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA	13 June 2025 Riverbend Park, Great Falls, VA

Return to list of flora