Rumex britannicaL.

greater water dockpale dock

WFO wfo-0001101334 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Rumex britannica, photographed by Jacob Read
fig. a Jacob Read, CC0 1.0 / 2020-09-01 / obs. 94143658
Rumex britannica, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. b Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 47836160
Rumex britannica, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. c Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42061645
Rumex britannica, photographed by Evan Barker
fig. d Evan Barker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 13814372
Rumex britannica, photographed by tony_told_me
fig. e tony_told_me, CC0 1.0 / obs. 194871536
Rumex britannica, photographed by Rose Zappa
fig. f Rose Zappa, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 98930813
Rumex britannica, photographed by Carter Dorscht
fig. g Carter Dorscht, CC0 1.0 / obs. 92144237
Rumex britannica, photographed by Allan Harris
fig. h Allan Harris, CC0 1.0 / obs. 62473518

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 32 botanical countries

Regions where Rumex britannica is native: Alberta, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin AlbertaConnecticutIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaNebraskaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaVermontVirginiaWisconsin District of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Rumex britannica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alberta ABT NORTHERN AMERICA
Connecticut CNT
District of Columbia WDC
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Nebraska NEB
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Wisconsin WIS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 3 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Rumex britannica var. borealis Rech.f.
  • Rumex hydrolapathum var. americanum A.Gray
  • Rumex orbiculatus A.Gray

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.