Relatives

Rumex patientia L. - Spinach sorrel

Taxonomic position.

Family Polygonacea Juss., genus Rumex L.

Basic synonyms:

Rumex callosus (Fr. Schmidtex ex Maxim.) Rech. fil.

Morphology and biology.

This species is a perennial plant. The stem is straight, thick, with grooves, 80-100 cm tall, branching in upper part. The bottom leaves are 20-30 cm long, 7-9 cm wide, ovate, pointed or blunt and a little bit wavy on the edges. The base of the bottom leaves is heart-shaped. Stalks of the bottom leaves are long. The top leaves are on short stalks, finer than bottom leaves, lanceolate. Flowers are thin, jointed in the bottom part, a little bit expanded. Flower whorls consist of 10-16 flowers, pulled together on almost leafless brush, which form together a long dense panicle. Internal shares of perianth are entire or with small denticles, light brown, ovary or heart-shaped, 6-8 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, mesh, round above or poorly pointed. Seeds are trihedral, oval, peaked, light brown, 3 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide. Blossoms in June-July, fructifies in July-August.

Distribution.

Common distribution: Middle Europe, the Mediterranean, Balkany - Asia Minor, Armenian-Kurdish region. In the territory of the former USSR: the European part - Crimea, Black Sea Coast, Top and Middle Dnepr, the Bottom Don; Caucasus - Ciscaucasia, East, Western and Southern Transcaucasia, Dagestan; Western Siberia - Altai; the Far East -Ussurijsky, Udsky, Sakhalin areas.

Ecology.

Grows in meadows, on edges of rivers, and on wet soils.

Use and economic value.

Leaves are used as a vegetable, fresh and cooked, instead of spinach. In culture it is known under the name of English spinach.

Reference citations:

Cherepanov S.K. 1995. Plantae Vasculares Rossicae et Civitatum Collimitanearum (in limics USSR olim)[List of Vascular Plants of Russia]. St. Petersburg: Mir I Semia. 990 pp. (In Russian)
Grossheim, A.A. 1945. Flora of Caucasia. V. 3. Baku: Publishing House of Azerbaijan Acad. Science. 91 p., appendix. (In Russian)
Kharkevich S.S., ed. 1989. Vascular plants of the Soviet Far East. V. 4. Leningrad: Nauka. 34-35 p. (In Russian)
Komarov, V.L., ed. 1939. Flora USSR. V. 5. Moscow-Leningrad: Publishing House of Acad. Science. 464-465 p. (In Russian)
Krasnoborov, I.M. & L.I. Malyshev, ed. 1992. Flora of the Siberia. V. 5. Salicaceae-Amaranthaceae. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 102 p. (In Russian)

© Smekalova, T.N.