Curly Dock
Rumex crispus
Photographed along Sycamore Creek, e. Maricopa Co., Arizona. March 2008.
PERENNIAL HERB: Robust herbaceous plant regrowing year after year from
underground tubers. Plants may reach 1½ meters
tall and often grow in clumps. Generally only visible above ground in the spring.
LEAVES: Leaves are large, somewhat rubbery in texture and have the
margins wavy contrary to the plain of the leaf. Lower stems are red in color
suggesting another commonly applied name: wild rhubarb, to which this plant is
related.
RANGE: Fairly common in the upper elevations of the Sonoran Desert
within mesquite bosques. Mesquites are frost deciduous allowing this early
spring growing plant additional light. Also found across most of North America.
FRUIT: Dry single-seeded capsules with three conspicuous reddish-brown
wings.
FLOWERS: Green flowers quickly followed by developing wings on the
fruit. Hundreds of flowers and fruits on an upright, branching stalk.
UNARMED. No thorns or spines, however, the leaves contain oxalic acid.
Once injested the chemical crystalizes within the kidneys producing sharp,
lacerating crystals that do considerable damage and may be fatal in higher
quantities.