genus

Dock

Rumex

Field notes

The docks and sorrels, genus Rumex, are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are common perennial herbs with a worldwide native distribution in temperate and subtropical climates.

Some are nuisance weeds (and are sometimes called dockweed or dock weed), but some are grown for their edible leaves. Rumex species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species, and are the only host plants of the butterflies Lycaena dispar and Lycaena rubidus.