Family: Polygonaceae Rumex hydrolapathum     *     Water Dock / Great Water Dock Flowering time: July-September. Perennial. Habitat: Found growing in shallow water in fens and ditches and beside lakes, ponds, canals and rivers. Colonises damp, bare ground in fens and marshes. Most frequent in S, E and central England. Branched, upright spikes (to 200cm) with crowded whorls of flowers, the inner tepals with short teeth at the base of long warts. The large, pointed, lanceolate-oval leaves can reach 100cm in length.

     






Water Dock, Rumex hydrolapathum
Studland, Dorset. September 2012