Rumex occidentalis
| Rumex occidentalis | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 6' |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Rumex occidentalis (common name: western dock)
Propagation: Seed - sow spring in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer.
Division in spring.
Cultivation: Succeeds in most soils but prefers a deep fertile moderately heavy soil that is humus-rich, moisture-retentive but well-drained and a position in full-sun or part shade[1].
Plants were seen growing well in a sunny well-drained bed at Kew in 1989[K].
Range: Western N. America - Alaska to California.
Habitat: Moist and swampy areas, summer-drying meadows, seacoast to foothills, valley and open montane flats[2].
Edibility: Young leaves - cooked[3][4][5][6]. Used like spinach[7]. A bitter taste, the native North American Indians would add oil to improve the flavour[8].
Young stems - cooked[8]. Used like rhubarb[8].
Seed - raw or cooked[5][9][7]. The seed can also be ground into a powder and used to make a gruel or added to cereal flours when making bread etc. It is rather small and fiddly to harvest.
Medicinal: The leaves have been used in herbal sweat baths to treat pains similar to rheumatism all over the body[7].
A poultice of the leaves and mashed, roasted roots has been applied to sores, boils and wounds[7].
A poultice of the root paste has been applied to cuts and boils[7].
Usage: Although no specific mention has been made for this species, dark green to brown and dark grey dyes can be obtained from the roots of many species in this genus, They do not need a mordant[10].
Pollinators: Wind
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
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-
Also Known As: R. fenestratus. Greene. R. aquaticus fenestratus. (Greene.)Dorn.
Links
References
- ↑ Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Hitchcock, Leo. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, 1955.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Yanovsky, Elias. Food Plants of the North American Indians Publication 237. US Department of Agriculture.
- ↑ Schofield, Janice. Discovering Wild Plants.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Moerman, Daniel. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, 1998.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Turner, Nancy. Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples. UBC Press Vancouver, 1995.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Grae, Ida. Nature's Colors. MacMillan Publishing, 1974.