Rumex dentatus

Toothed dock

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Toothed dock is a naturalized annual found in the Great Valley and Peninsular Ranges in wet, disturbed places and cultivated fields at elevations below 800 meters. Flowering from May to September, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers in open, interrupted whorls with thread-like pedicels. Growing with slender, often bending stems up to 70 centimeters tall that branch above the middle, it has a vertical fusiform taproot. Its lance-oblong to ovate-elliptic leaves measure 3 to 8 centimeters long with entire to slightly wavy margins and obtuse to acute tips. The fruit is dark red-brown, approximately 2 to 2.8 millimeters long with three distinctive lanceolate tubercles.

Habitat: Uncommon. Wet, disturbed places, cultivated fields

Bloom period: May-Sep

Elevation: < 800 m

Bioregions: GV, PR

California counties: Ventura, Riverside, Napa, Butte, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego, Yolo, Los Angeles, Colusa, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Merced, Solano, Glenn, Tehama, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.