Rumex hastatus seed
LATIN NAME: Rumex hastatus
COMMON NAME: Hastate-Leaved Dock
The hastate-leaved dock is a handsome, low, spreading, many-branched, evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub of the warm, dry, rocky places, and its fine, arrowhead-shaped or hastate, bluish-green leaves and its fine, slender, branching heads of the many small, greenish or pinkish flowers, followed by the small, three-winged, reddish fruits, have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as a low, spreading, many-branched shrub, reaching up to one metre or so, with the many slender, arching stems bearing the alternate, arrowhead-shaped or hastate, pointed, bluish-green leaves and, through the warm months, the fine, slender, branching heads of the many small, greenish or pinkish flowers, followed by the small, three-winged, reddish fruits. It is a species of the flowering shrub in the knotweed family, and it is native to the warm, dry, rocky places of the Himalaya and the surrounding regions, while it is treasured for its fine, bluish, arrowhead-shaped leaves, and it is known as the hastate-leaved dock.
In the knotweed family it is the arrow-leaved dock of the Himalayan rocks, a shrub whose bluish leaves and three-winged fruits mark the dry, stony slopes.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The hastate-leaved dock appears in the high-land ecology papers of the Himalaya, and the botanists have mapped its place in the knotweed family and the rocky flora of the region. The natural-product chemists have examined the parts of the dock with their long record of traditional use, and the soil scientists have studied the deep, binding roots that hold the loose, stony ground. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the dry, rocky garden keep it in their catalogues.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
In the dry, rocky garden, the hastate-leaved dock is the arrow-leaved shrub of the stony slope. Its branching heads feed the insects, its three-winged fruits feed the small creatures, and the low, spreading, bluish growth holds the rocky ground. It has served the dry bank and the rock garden, and it grows well in the sharp, gritty, well-drained ground of the sunny, open spot. Arrow-leaved, bluish and tough.
These small seeds are easy starters — scatter them thinly over the surface of pots of fine, gritty seed compost and press them in lightly without covering them, since they appreciate a little light, stand the pots in a bright, open spot and mist them gently, and they will be up before long.