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Rumex crispus
| Common name: |
Curled Dock |
Family: |
Polygonaceae |
| Author: |
L. |
Botanical references: |
17 |
| Synonyms: |
Rumex elongatus (Guss.) |
| Known Hazards: |
Plants can contain quite high levels of oxalic acid, which is what gives the leaves of many members of this genus an acid-lemon flavour. Perfectly alright in small quantities, the leaves should not be eaten in large amounts since the oxalic acid can lock-up other nutrients in the food, especially calcium, thus causing mineral deficiencies. The oxalic acid content will be reduced if the plant is cooked. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition[238]. |
| Range: |
Most of Europe, including Britain, to N. Africa. |
| Habitat: |
Growing almost anywhere[5], it is found especially in grassy places, waste ground, roadsides and near sand dunes and is a serious weed of agriculture[17, 244]. |
| Edibility Rating (1-5): |
2 | Medicinal Rating (1-5): | 3 |
| Other Common Names: | From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below. |
| Chin Ch'Iao Mai [E], Curled Dock [L,H], Curly Dock [E,L,B,P], Dock,Yellow [E], Hualtata [E], Hummaidh [E], Kivircik Labada [E], Krulzuring [D], Niu She T'Ou [E], Oseille Marron [E], Oseille Sauvage [E], Surale Di Bierdji [E], Yellow Dock [H,S], |
| Epithets: | From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets |
|
crispus = curly
|
| Systematics: | From a USDA Plants Database |
|
Order: Polygonales. Buckwheat family
|
| Other Range Info: |
From the Ethnobotany Database |
|
Belgium
Brazil Chile China Europe Haiti Iraq Turkey Us Us(Appalachia) Us(Blackfoot)
|
| Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds | From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia
, DEFRA Injurious Weeds | | Listed as noxious/invasive for: UK. |
| Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds | From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia
, DEFRA Injurious Weeds | | Listed as noxious/invasive for: Iowa, Minnesota, Tasmaina. |
Physical Characteristics
Perennial growing to 0.6m by 0.3m . It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from June to October, and the seeds ripen from July to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind.
It is noted for attracting wildlife.
We rate it 2/5 for edibility and
3/5 for medicinal use.
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils.
The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils.
It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.
It requires moist soil.
Habitats and Possible Locations
Meadow, Woodland, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge.Edible Uses
Coffee
Leaves Seed.
Leaves - raw or cooked[5, 85, 159]. They can also be dried for later
use[12]. The leaves can be added to salads, cooked as a potherb or added to
soups[183]. Only the very young leaves should be used, preferably before the
stems have developed, and even these are likely to be bitter[12, 95, 257]. If
used in early spring and in the autumn they can often be fairly pleasant
tasting[85, 159, K]. The leaves are very rich in vitamins and minerals,
especially iron and the vitamins A and C[183, 244]. A nutritional analysis is
available[218].
Stems - raw or cooked[257]. They are best peeled and the inner portion
eaten[257].
Seed - raw or cooked[172, 257]. It can be used as a piñ ole or can be ground
into a powder and used as a flour for making pancakes etc[85, 102, 183, 257].
The seed is very fiddly to harvest and prepare[62].
The roasted seed has been used as a coffee substitute[207]. Composition
- Leaves (Fresh weight)
-
In grammes per 100g weight of food:
Water: 92.6
Calories: 21
Protein: 1.5
Fat: 0.3
Carbohydrate: 4.1
Fibre: 0.9
Ash: 1.5
In milligrammes per 100g weight of food:
Calcium: 74
Phosphorus: 56
Iron: 5.6
VitaminA: 1.38
Thiamine: 0.06
Riboflavin: 0.08
Niacin: 0.4
VitaminC: 30
Source: [218]
Notes
: The figure for vitamin A is in milligrammes.
Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
Alterative
Antiscorbutic Astringent Cancer Cholagogue Depurative Homeopathy Laxative Poultice Salve Tonic.
Curled dock has a long history of domestic herbal use. It is a gentle
and safe laxative, less powerful than rhubarb in its action so it is
particularly useful in the treatment of mild constipation[254]. The plant has
valuable cleansing properties and is useful for treating a wide range of skin
problems[254]. All parts of the plant can be used, though the root is most
active medicinally.
The root is alterative, antiscorbutic, astringent, cholagogue, depurative,
laxative and mildly tonic[4, 21, 46, 94, 165]. It used to be sold as a tonic
and laxative[212]. It can cause or relieve diarrhoea according to the dose,
harvest time and relative concentrations of tannin(astringent) and
anthraquinones (laxative) that are present[222]. It is used internally in the
treatment of constipation, diarrhoea, piles, bleeding of the lungs, various
blood complaints and also chronic skin diseases[4, 238, 257]. Externally, the
root can be mashed and used as a poultice and salve, or dried and used as a
dusting powder, on sores, ulcers, wounds and various other skin
problems[257].
The root has been used with positive effect to restrain the inroads made by
cancer, being used as an alterative and tonic[4]. The root is harvested in
early spring and dried for later use[4]. Some caution is advised in its use
since excess doses can cause gastric disturbance, nausea and dermatitis[222,
238].
The seed is used in the treatment of diarrhoea[4, 218].
A homeopathic remedy is made from the fresh root, harvested in the autumn
before frost has touched the plant[232]. It is only used in the treatment of
a specific type of cough[232]. We have a more details factsheet on the history and medicinal use of this plant. Email webmaster@pfaf.org for details.
Other Uses
Compost
Dye.
Yellow, dark green to brown and dark grey dyes can be obtained from the
roots. They do not need a mordant[168].
An alternative ingredient of 'QR' herbal compost activator[32]. (is it the
flowers?) This is a dried and powdered mixture of several herbs that can be
added to a compost heap in order to speed up bacterial activity and thus
shorten the time needed to make the compost[K].
Cultivation details
Succeeds in most soils, preferring a moist moderately fertile
well-drained soil in a sunny position[200]. The plant does not need any help
in growing, it is doing very nicely in Britain where it is a serious weed of
agriculture.
A very important food plant for the caterpillars of many species of
butterfly[30].
Propagation
Seed - this plant does not require any help in its propagation.
Suppliers
For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.
Web References
- Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
- [H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
- [E] Ethnobotany Data
(common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
- [V] Images
from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
- [B] Data
(Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
- [S] SW USA Dist. Maps
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
- [C] Taxon data.
from the CalFlora database.
- Images
from the CalPhoto database.
- [PHARM] Phytochemical Data
(common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
- [HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
References for rumex crispus (a possible synonym).
References for the family Polygonaceae.
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.
Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.
[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.
[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
[5] Mabey. R. Food for Free. Collins 1974 ISBN 0-00-219060-5
Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.
[12] Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. Britain's Wild Larder. David and Charles ISBN 0-7153-7971-2
A handy pocket guide.
[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
[30] Carter D. Butterflies and Moths in Britain and Europe. Pan 1982 ISBN 0-330-26642-x
An excellent book on Lepidoptera, it also lists their favourite food plants.
[32] Bruce. M. E. Commonsense Compost Making. Faber 1977 ISBN 0-571-09990-4
Excellent little booklet dealing with how to make compost by using herbs to activate the heap. Gives full details of the herbs that are used.
[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
[62] Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants. Van Nostrand Reinhold 1982 ISBN 0442222009
Very readable.
[85] Harrington. H. D. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press 1967 ISBN 0-8623-0343-9
A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants.
[94] Sweet. M. Common Edible and Useful Plants of the West. Naturegraph Co. 1962 ISBN 0-911010-54-8
Useful wild plants in Western N. America. A pocket guide.
[95] Saunders. C. F. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Dover Publications 1976 ISBN 0-486-23310-3
Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.
[102] Kavasch. B. Native Harvests. Vintage Books 1979 ISBN 0-394-72811-4
Another guide to the wild foods of America.
[159] McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977 ISBN 0-253-28925-4
A nice pocket guide to this region of America.
[165] Mills. S. Y. The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism.
An excellent small herbal.
[168] Grae. I. Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. 1974 ISBN 0-02-544950-8
A very good and readable book on dyeing.
[172] Schofield. J. J. Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest.
A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.
[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.
[212] Craighead. J., Craighead. F. and Davis. R. A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers The Riverside Press 1963 ISBN 63-7093
Excellent little pocket guide to the area, covering 590 species and often giving details of their uses.
[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
[232] Castro. M. The Complete Homeopathy Handbook. Macmillan. London. 1990 ISBN 0-333-55581-3
A concise beginner's guide to the subject. Very readable.
[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
[244] Phillips. R. & Foy. N. Herbs Pan Books Ltd. London. 1990 ISBN 0-330-30725-8
Deals with all types of herbs including medicinal, culinary, scented and dye plants. Excellent photographs with quite good information on each plant.
[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
Readers Comments
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Plant information taken from the
Plants For A Future -
Species Database.
Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963 This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Rumex+crispus
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