Rumex chalepensis Mill.

The occurrence of this Irano-Turanian element in E. Asia is in need of verification on the basis of complete specimens. The specimen Santapau 6625 from Urak has exceptional basal leaves: 4 times broader than long.

Herbs perennial. Roots black-brown, large, to 2.5 cm in diam. Stems erect, 30-60 cm, grooved, branched. Basal leaves: petiole 3-4 cm; leaf blade oblong, 5-20 × 3-8 cm, both surfaces glabrous, midvein prominent abaxially, base rounded or subcordate, margin slightly undulate, apex obtuse or acute; cauline leaves shortly petiolate, small; ocrea fugacious, membranous. Inflorescence paniculate, large, lax. Flowers bisexual. Pedicel articulate below middle. Outer tepals elliptic; inner tepals enlarged in fruit; valves triangular-cordate, 5-6 mm, all valves with tubercles, conspicuously net veined, base subcordate, margin denticulate, apex acute; denticles 1-1.5 mm; tubercles oblong, ca. 2 mm. Achenes brown, shiny, ellipsoid, sharply trigonous, 2.5-3 mm, base narrow, apex acute. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jun.

Perennial. Stem erect, up to 120 cm high, branching in the upper half; branches arcuate-divaricate, forming a broad open panicle. Basal leaves 2-3 times longer than broad, up to 20 cm long, ovate-oblong or ovate with cordate base, acute or subacute apex, petiole shorter than lamina; lower stem leaves with slightly cordate base, ovate-lanceolate, acute; upper stem leaves gradually smaller and narrower acute with short petiole; all leaves flat or nearly so. Whorl many-flowered, all ± remote. Pedicels thin, articulate below the middle, slightly longer or up to twice as long as the valve. External perianth segments c. 1.5 mm long. Valves c. 5 x c.5 mm, (rotundate-) cordate, with ± acute tip, distinctly regularly reticulate, with 4-9 unequal teeth near the base, usually all with unequal grains. Nut c. 3 mm long, brown, broadest ± slightly below the middle.

Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Turkmenistan; SW Asia, Europe].

Distribution: Armenia, Transcaucasia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and C. Asia.

Fl. Per.: May-August.

Along ditches, moist valleys; 100-1500 m.

Rumex dictyocarpus Boissier & Buhse; R. drobovii Korovin.

R. denticulatus C. Koch in Linnaea 22: 208. 1840 non Campd.; R. syriacus Meisn. in DC. Prodr. 14: 53. 1856; Losinsk., l.c. 477; R. dictyocarpus Boiss. & Buhse in Nouv. Mém. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 12: 192. 1860. R. obtusifolius Boiss., Fl. Or. 4: 1011. 1879 p.p.; R. turkestanicus O. Paulsen in Bot. Tidsskr. 29: 154. 1909. R. drobovi E. Korov., Opred. Rast. Okr. Taschkent 154. 1924.