Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Rumex sagittatus
Common name
Rambling dock, Turkey rhubarb
Family
Polygonaceae
Where found
Urban bushland, shrubland, roadsides, disturbed sites, hind dunes, gullies, and near streams. Coast and ranges north of Bermagui. Occasionally tablelands. Doubtfully naturalised ACT.
Notes
Introduced perennial climber, stems up to 5m long. The stems usually arise each year from an underground tuber. Stems somewhat fleshy, hairless, ribbed. Leaves alternating up the stems, 2-10 cm long, 10-70 mm wide, arrow-shaped to triangular, somewhat fleshy, with a sheath at the base of the stalk. Flowers usually bisexual, occasionally female. Flowers small, green or purplish, with 3 'sepals' about 1 mm long, and 3 'petals' about 1 mm long. Flowers in few-flowered whorls forming large, loose, multi-branched clusters up to 30 cm long. Seed cases with three papery wings, pinkish red or purplish, often mistaken for flowers, turning light brown to straw-coloured as they mature. Flowers Spring to Autumn.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW.
PlantNET description: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rumex~sagittatus(accessed 20 April 2021)
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