Patience Dock

Foodplant / parasite
amphigenous uredium of Uromyces rumicis parasitises live leaf of Rumex patientia

Some North American specimens of Rumex patientia appear to belong to subsp. orientalis (= R. orientalis Bernhardi 1830, not Campderá 1819; R. lonaczevskii), which differs from subsp. patientia in having larger inner tepals (6-10 × 8-10 mm, not 4-8 × 4-8 mm).

A predominantly Asian variety with three tubercles sometimes is recognized as subsp. callosus (Fr. Schmidt ex Maximowicz) Rechinger f. [= var. callosus Fr. Schmidt ex Maximowicz; Rumex callosus (Fr. Schmidt ex Maximowicz) Rechinger f.]. However, the distribution of infraspecific taxa of R. patientia in North America has not been studied in detail.

Rumex patientia may be expected in southern Canada, especially the prairie regions of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, as well as in Colorado and other states. According to J. T. Kartesz (1987, vol. 1), a record from Nevada was based on misidentification of R. crispus.

Rumex patientia is the lectotype of the genus. It and the following two species belong to subsect. Rumex.

Two of us (Grabovskaya-Borodina and Mosyakin) prefer to accept the subspecific taxa of K. H. Rechinger.

Plants perennial, glabrous or very indistinctly papillose normally only on veins of leaf blades abaxially, with fusiform, vertical rootstock. Stems erect, branched from above middle, 80-150(-200) cm. Leaves: ocrea deciduous or partially persistent at maturity; blade ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, normally 30-45(-50) × 10-15 cm, base truncate, broadly cuneate, or weakly cordate, margins entire, flat or weakly undulate, apex acute or subacute. Inflorescences terminal, occupying distal 1/ 2 of stem, normally dense, narrowly to broadly paniculate, branches usually straight or arcuate, rarely indistinctly flexuous. Pedicels articulated in proximal 1/3, sometimes almost near base, filiform, 5-13(-17) mm, articulation usually distinctly swollen. Flowers 10-20(-25) in whorls; inner tepals broadly ovate, suborbiculate, or orbiculate, (5-)5.5-8(-10) × 5-9(-10) mm, base usually distinctly cordate, margins entire or subentire to very weakly erose, apex obtuse or occasionally subacute; tubercles normally 1, more than 1 mm wide, normally less than 2 times as wide as inner tepals, occasionally 3, then 2 much smaller. Achenes brown, 3-3.5 × 1.5-2.5 mm. 2n = 60.

Herbs perennial. Roots vertical, large, to 3 cm in diam. Stems erect, 80-150(-200) cm tall, robust, branched above, grooved. Basal leaves: petiole 5-15 cm, stout; leaf blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 15-30 × 5-10 cm, base rounded, broadly cuneate, or subcordate, margin undulate, apex acute to subacute; cauline leaves shortly petiolate or nearly sessile, lanceolate, small; ocrea fugacious, 2-4 cm, membranous. Inflorescence paniculate, large. Flowers bisexual. Pedicel slender, articulate below middle, articulation swollen and slightly inflexed in fruit. Outer tepals oblong, ca. 1.5 mm; inner tepals enlarged in fruit; valves broadly cordate, 6-7 mm, all or 1 or 2 valves with narrowly ovate tubercles (in R. patientia s.str. normally 1 valve has a large tubercle, and two other valves have smaller tubercles), net veined, base deeply cordate, margin entire or indistinctly erose, apex obtuse. Achenes brown, shiny, ovoid, trigonous, 2.5-3 mm, apex acuminate. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 40.

Perennial. Stem erect, repeatedly branching from the middle into a dense panicle with lower branches fasciculate. Leaves slightly fleshy when alive, pale green; basal leaves oblong-lanceolate, about 3-4 times longer than broad, 20-30 cm long, grossly undualte or nearly flat; base truncate or broadly cuneate, rarely subcordate; apex acute; petiole shorter than the leaf blade; stem leaves gradually smaller upwards, narrower, with shorter petiole. Flower whorls many-flowered, all except the lowest congested. Pedicels filiform, articulate at middle of their length, about twice as long as the valve. External perianth segments about as long as half the breadth of the valves, appressed with their base. Valves much variable in size and outline (see subspecies), pale brown, membranous, finely reticulate with entire or subentire margin, the anterior only or all unequally calliferous. Nut 3-4 mm long, brown, broadest below the middle.

introduced; Ont., Que.; Conn., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Tenn., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; e, s Europe; w Asia; introduced elsewhere.

Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan; Europe; introduced and naturalized in North America and some other parts of the world].

Distribution: Wide spread over the warmer parts of Eastern Europe and Asia, occasionally introduced and sometimes established elsewhere.

Two subspecies have been found in Pakistan.

Flowering late spring-summer.

Waste places, roadsides, old fields, gardens, disturbed meadows, occasionally in alluvial habitats; 0-2300m.

Along ditches, water sides, moist valleys; sea level to 4000 m.

Lapathum hortense Lamarck; Rumex lonaczevskii Klokov; R. patientia subsp. orientalis Danser

Rumex callosus (F. Schmidt ex Maximowicz) K. H. Rechinger; R. interruptus K. H. Rechinger; R. patientia subsp. callosus (F. Schmidt ex Maximowicz) K. H. Rechinger; R. patientia var. callosus F. Schmidt ex Maximowicz; R. patientia subsp. interruptus K. H. Rechinger; R. patientia subsp. pamiricus (K. H. Rechinger) K. H. Rechinger; R. patientia subsp. tibeticus (K. H. Rechinger) K. H. Rechinger; R. patientia var. tibeticus K. H. Rechinger.

Rumex patientia, known as patience dock, garden patience, herb patience, or monk's rhubarb, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant belonging to the family Polygonaceae. In spring it is often consumed as a leaf vegetable and as a filling in pies in Southern Europe, especially in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is also used in Romania in spring broths or sarmale.