Slender Dock - native (Rumex brownii)

Family: Polygonaceae (Dock, Persicaria family).

Native of Australia.

Occurrence: A widespread and common dock. Roadsides, farmland, bushland and nature strips.

Identification:

• it is a slender dock
• it is sparingly branched with long curved stems
• the leaves are fairly small and confined to the lower part of the plant
• the flowers are along the leafless stems
• there are five or more flowers in each cluster
• the fruit are triangular and toothed and the bracts (at the base of the flowers, and a similar colour to the fruit) are curved backwards.

This is the most common of the native docks. The slender habit, the sparse (or no) branching, and leafless flower clusters are distinctive. Other docks with triangular, toothed fruit are densely branched, or have bracts that do not curve backwards.

Photos 1: Stem with fruit. Eureka.
2: Basal leaves. Doveton St nature strip. Castlemaine.
3: Slender Dock. Sutton Grange.
4: Slender Dock. Maldon.