Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Polygonaceae > Rumex > Rumex venosus

Rumex venosus (veiny dock)

Synonyms: Lapathum venosum (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

Rumex venosus is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names veiny dock, winged dock, and wild-begonia (it is not related to genus Begonia). While not of any particular agricultural use, its cousins Rhubarb and Buckweat are. It is native to central and western North America, from southern parts of the Canadian prairies, through to Mexico. It can be found in many types of habitat, including sagebrush, dunes, and other sandy areas. It is commonly found in heavily grazed pastures as livestock tend to avoid it, allowing veiny dock to spread uninhibited.
View Wikipedia Record: Rumex venosus

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [2]  Plants can contain quite high levels of oxalic acid, which is what gives the leaves of many members of this genus an acid-lemon flavour. Perfectly alright in small quantities, the leaves should not be eaten in large amounts since the oxalic acid can lock-up other nutrients in the food, especially calcium, thus causing mineral deficiencies. The oxalic acid content will be reduced if the plant is cooked. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition;
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Wind
Structure [3]  Herb
Usage [2]  A yellow dye is obtained from the root; The roots are peeled, broken into sections about 25mm long, then spread out thinly in a sunny position until very dry. They are then soaked in water for a few days before being boiled in the same water for a long time. Alum is then added to fix the colour; A red dye is obtained if ashes are added and it turns black if the bark of Cornus stolonifera is also added;
Height [2]  20 inches (0.5 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Rumex venosus

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Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
3Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0