Rumex palustris

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Marsh dock is a naturalized annual herb found in coastal California in wet places at elevations below 10 meters. Flowering during the summer, this plant produces small greenish-brown flowers in open, spreading whorls with thread-like pedicels. Growing with erect, red-brown stems 10 to 60 centimeters tall that are generally branched, it develops a vertical taproot. Its large lanceolate leaves measure 15 to 30 centimeters long and 1.5 to 6 centimeters wide, with entire margins and acute tips. The fruit is light brown, small and irregularly shaped with three nearly equal smooth tubercles.

Habitat: Wet places

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: < 10 m

Bioregions: Reported from coastal CA

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