''Rumex pulcher'' is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common name fiddle dock. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa and it can be found elsewhere, including parts of North America, as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

and a roadside

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

. Europe. It is quite variable in appearance, and some authorities divide it into several subspecies that are more or less distinguishable. In general, it is a perennial herb producing a slender, erect stem from a thick

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

, approaching 70 centimeters in maximum height. The top of the plant may bend, especially as the fruit develops. The leaves are up to 10 or 15 centimeters long and variable in shape, though often oblong with a narrow middle in the rough shape of a

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is made up of many branches, each an interrupted series of clusters of flowers with up to 20 in each cluster, each flower hanging from a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

. The flower has usually six

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, the inner three of which are edged with teeth and have tubercles at their centers.

References

External links

* * * *
Jepson Manual Treatment

Flora of North America

pulcher Pulcher is Latin for "beautiful", and may refer to: * Claudius Pulcher (disambiguation), Romans * Publius Clodius Pulcher, Roman politician and street agitator * ''Pelvicachromis pulcher ''Pelvicachromis pulcher'' is a Fresh water, freshwater ...

Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Western Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Polygonaceae-stub