Rumex hydrolapathum Hudson
water dock
western and southern Europe
With its very astringent roots,Rumex hydrolapathum formerly had a reputa-
tion as a cure for scurvy, especially when the gums had become spongy and
black. In one district in Londonderry, where it grew in quantity, country doc-
tors would come to gather it.^154 On the river Erne in adjoining Donegal, on
the other hand, it was rated ‘a grand blood purifier, as good as bogbean and
burdock’.^155
Those two Irish records stand on the authority of able botanists in each
case, but elsewhere there may have been confusion with butterbur (Petasites
hybridus), which is similarly valued for its roots and has been known as ‘water
docken’ in Cumberland.^156 Perhaps it was that, and not Rumex hydrolap-
athum,whose root juice was drunk for colds and asthma in Cavan^157 (a
known use of butterbur) or employed for cleaning the teeth in the High-
lands, where R. hydrolapathum is very rare?^158 On the other hand, perhaps R.
hydrolapathum was the ‘bloodwort’, a name borne by the plant in Cheshire,^159
whose roots were boiled in Wicklow and the liquid rubbed on parts pained by
rheumatism and on mouth ulcers?^160
Rumex crispus Linnaeus
curled dock
Europe, Africa; introduced into other continents
InIreland, as ‘yellow dock’, one of its commoner alternative names,Rumex
crispusis on record in folk use from Sligo,^161 Cavan^162 and Wexford.^163 In the
last of these, the juice was squeezed out of the leaves and put on to a cloth which
was then tied round a stone-bruise. In Cavan a decoction of the roots (which
have been proved to have purgative properties) was drunk for constipation
and liver trouble, and in Sligo for liver trouble, skin diseases and rheumatism.
Rumex conglomeratus Murray
clustered dock
Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa; introduced into North America
A decoction of a plant distinguished as ‘narrow-leaved dock’, presumably
either Rumex conglomeratus or R. crispus,is on record from one village in
Norfolk as a claimed cancer cure. The growth was steeped in the liquid and
then poulticed.^164
Elms to Docks 97