Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Polygonaceae > Rumex pulcher > Rumex pulcher pulcher

Rumex pulcher pulcher (Swamp Dock)

Synonyms:

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
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 rich yellow dye is obtained from the root if it is fixed with alum; Although no specific mention has been made for this species, dark green to brown and dark grey dyes can be obtained from the roots of many species in this genus, They do not need a mordant;
Height [2]  24 inches (0.6 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Rumex pulcher pulcher

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Flinders Chase National Park II 81245 South Australia, Australia
Norfolk Island National Park II 1723 Australian external territories, Australia  

Predators

Psephotus haematonotus (Red-rumped Parrot)[4]

External References

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
♦ 4Food of some birds in eastern New South Wales: additions to Barker & Vestjens. Emu 93(3): 195–199
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