RUMEX VESICARIUS

Family and Genus:- See- POLYGONACEAE/Subgen. ACETOSELLA

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Rumex (L) A name used by the Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny

for sorrel.

Vesicarous (L) Inflated, bladder-like

General description:- Dioecious, glabrous annual, whole plant somewhat fleshy,

often glaucous or reddish.

Stems:-

1) 15-40 cm, erect with ascending branches

Leaves:-

1) Triangular-ovate, the lower ones ± hastate, with long petioles.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence a rather lax, branched, leafless raceme.

2) Fruiting valves, conspicuously large (10-18 x 10-20 mm), cordate-orbicular,

reticulate-veined, reddish, scarious.

Fruit:-

1) Nut, of the primary flower 3·5-5 mm, greyish-brown; nut, of secondary flower 2·8-

4·5 mm, somewhat darker brown.

Key features:-

1) Basal leaves, various, if narrowly linear, then distinctly sagittate or hastate

2) Valves, usually more than 13 mm wide.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Roadsides and rocky, somewhat ruderalised coastal habitats, in hot and

dry places. 0-100(-400) m.

Distribution:- A few records from near Nafplion Peloponnisos, Rhodes and Crete. -

A Sahara-Arabian desert element. Rare on Crete known from a few locations near

Hania in the NW.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to May.

Photos by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Commons