Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: Europe and Western Asia
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

A common weedy herb of roadsides and disturbed ground, curly dock sends up tall rusty-brown seed stalks that persist through winter and can release over 40,000 seeds per plant per year. Its distinctively wavy-edged leaves were historically used as a folk remedy to soothe nettle stings.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Rumex
Species: Rumex crispus