Description

Potentially Misidentified Species- All are introduced except R. verticillatus (Swamp Dock). Rumex patientia (Patience Dock) has not been reported from intertidal habitats in Chesapeake Bay.

Taxonomy

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus
Plantae	Magnoliophyta	Magnoliopsida	Polygonales	Polygonaceae	Rumex

Synonyms

Invasion History

Chesapeake Bay Status

First Record	Population	Range	Introduction	Residency	Source Region	Native Region	Vectors
1830	Established	Stable	Introduced	Boundary Resident	Europe	Eurasia	Shipping(Dry Ballast), Agriculture(Agricultural Weed)

History of Spread

Rumex crispus (Curly Dock), a Eurasian native, is not among colonial herbarium specimens examined by Brown et al. (1987), and was not in listed by Walter (1788) for the Carolinas. However, it was found to be widespread by Pursh (1814) in the Northeast U.S. in 'dry fields and pastures, common'; and by Gray (1848): 'A very common weed in cultivated and waste grounds'. Mills et al. give the first iecorded from the Hudson Basin as 1927 (Mills et al. 1997), but this plant was probably present there much earlier. It is not listed among Great Lakes exotic species (Mills et al. 1993), but it is present there (Fernald 1950; Gleason and Cronquist 1991). Rumex crispus is now found in all of the US states (Natural Resouces Conservation Service 2001), and a frequent invader of impounded marshes in southern CA (Zedler 1992) and San Francisco Bay (Cohen and Carlton 1995).

Rumex crispus was found in Washington D.C. and Baltimore in the 1830's (Aikin 1837; Brereton 1830) and is included in all subsequent floras. It is now widespread and abundant throughout MD and VA (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992). Rumex crispus is widespread in uplands, but is a facultative wetland plant, with some salt-tolerant populations (Grime et al. 1988). It has been found to be common on salt marsh edges in Worcester County MD (Redmond 1932), and on muddy shorelines and marsh edges on the Delmarva peninsula (Tatnall 1946). At the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (Edgewater MD), it has been found in 'a dry halophytic marsh' on Ivy Neck (Higman 1968). It occurs there also in the upper and lower intertidal zones of marshes at Fox and Muddy Creeks, as well as on rubble beaches at North Point State Park, Edgemere MD, north of Baltimore Harbor, and in tidal fresh marshes along the Anacostia River at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens (Fofonoff personal observation).

History References - Agricultural Research Service 1971; Aikin 1837; Brereton 1831; Brown and Brown 1984; Fernald 1950; Gleason and Cronquist 1991; Gray 1848; Grime et al. 1988; Harvill et al. 1992; Higman 1968; Natural Resoruces Conservation Service 2001; Pursh 1814; Redmond 1932

Invasion Comments

Ecology

Environmental Tolerances

	For Survival		For Reproduction
	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
Temperature (ºC)
Salinity (‰)	0.0		0.0	10.0
Oxygen
pH
	Salinity Range	fresh-meso

Age and Growth

	Male	Female
Minimum Adult Size (mm)
Typical Adult Size (mm)
Maximum Adult Size (mm)
Maximum Longevity (yrs)
Typical Longevity (yrs

Reproduction

	Start	Peak	End
Reproductive Season
Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event
Sexuality Mode(s)
Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction
Fertilization Type(s)
More than One Reproduction Event per Year
Reproductive Startegy
Egg/Seed Form

Impacts

Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay

Rumex crispus (Curly Dock) probably has few or no impacts in tidal waters of the Bay, but it is one of the most common agricultural weeds in disturbed areas of the watershed (Brown and Brown 1984).

References- Brown and Brown 1984

Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay

Rumex crispus (Curly Dock) is now widespread through most temperate countries. It is 'often a pernicious weed' (Agricultural Research Service 1971) and is toxic to livestock (Grime et al.1988), but specific impacts in tidal wetlands have not been reported, to our knowledge.

References- Agricultural Research Service 1971; Grime et al.1988

Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species

Rumex crispus (Curly Dock) is very abundant in disturbed upland areas (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992) and may be common on marsh edges (Redmond 1932) and intertidal edge of disturbed shores (Tatnall 1946). Specific impacts in Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands have not been reported. This plant was listed as moderately invasive in VA natural areas (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 1999).

References- Brown and Brown 1984; Fofonoff personal observation; Harvill et al. 1992; Redmond 1932; Tatnall 1946; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 1999

Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species

Rumex crispus (Curly Dock) is an important competitor in disturbed upland areas (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992) and could compete with other introduced plants on marsh edges (Redmond 1932) and disturbed shores (Tatnall 1946). However, since it is rarely abundant in tidal wetlands, it is presumed to have few impacts on other exotic biota in Chesapeake Bay.

Refereces- Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992; Redmond 1932; Tatnall 1946

References

Agricultural Research Service (1971) Common weeds of the United States., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp.

Aikin, W. E. A. (1837) Catalogue of phenogamous plants and ferns, native or naturalized, growing in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland., Transactions of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and Literature 1: 55-91

Brereton, J. A. (1830) Prodromus of the Flora Columbiana, , Washington, D.C.. Pp.

Brown, Melvin L.; Brown, Russell G. (1984) Herbaceous Plants of Maryland, , College Park. Pp.

Brown, Melvin L.; Reveal, J. L; Broome, C. R.; Frick, George F. (1987) Comments on the vegetation of colonial Maryland, Huntia 7: 247-283

Fernald, Merritt L. (1950) Gray's Manual of Botany, In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.

Gleason, Henry A.; Cronquist, Arthur (1991) Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, In: (Eds.) . , Bronx, New York. Pp.

Gray, Asa (1848) A manual of botany of the northern United States., In: (Eds.) . , Boston. Pp.

Grime. J. P.; Hodgson, J. G.; Hunt, R. (1988) Comparative plant ecology: A functional approach to common British species, , London. Pp.

Harvill, A. M.; Bradley, Ted R.; Stevens, Charles E.; Wieboldt, Thomas F.; Ware, Donna M. E.; Ogle, Douglas W.; Ramsey, Gwynn W.; Fleming, Gary P. (1992) Atlas of the Virginia Flora, , Burkeville, VA. Pp.

Higman, Daniel (1968) An ecologically annotated checklst of the vascular flora at the Chesapeake Bay Center for Field Biology., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp.

Kartesz, John T. (1994) A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland., In: (Eds.) . , Portland OR. Pp.

1997-2024 USDA PLANTS Database.. Onine databse

Pursh, Frederick (1814) Flora Americae Septentrionalis or, a Systematic Arrangement and Description of the Plants of North America, , Hirschburg. Pp.

Redmond, Paul J. (1932) A flora of Worcester County, Maryland, Contributions from the Biological Laboratory of the Catholic University of America 11: 1-104

Resource Management Inc. (1993) National list of plant species that occur in wetlands., , Minneapolis.. Pp.

Tatnall, Robert R. (1946) Flora of Delaware and the Eastern Shore, , Wilmington. Pp.

1999 Invasive Alien Plant Species of Virginia. http://www.state.va.us/~dcr/dnh/invlist.htm

Woodell, S. R. J. (1985) Salinity and seed germination patterns in coastal plants, Vegetatio 61: 223-229

Zedler, Joy B. (1992) Invasive exotic plants: Threats to coastal ecosystems., In: (Eds.) Perspectives on the Marine Environment: Proceedings from a Symposium on the Marine Environment of Southern California. , Los Angeles, CA. Pp. 49-62

Zedler, Joy B.; Beare, Pamela A. (1986) Temporal variability of salt marsh vegetation: the role of low-salinity gaps and environmental stress., , London. Pp. 295-307