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Rumex crispus
Polygonaceae FAMILY

Rumex crispus

Rumex crispus

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

Plants can contain quite high levels of oxalic acid, which is what gives the leaves of many members of this genus an acid-lemon flavour. Perfectly alright in small quantities, the leaves should not be eaten in large amounts since the oxalic acid can lock-up other nutrients in the food, especially calcium, thus causing mineral deficiencies. The oxalic acid content will be reduced if the plant is cooked. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Originally native to temperate Asia and Europe, the plant has spread to become a weed of agriculture throughout much of the world, including higher elevations above 2,200 metres in the tropics. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 14 - 18°c, but can tolerate 8 - 28°c[2]. The plant can tolerate quite severe frosts. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 800 - 1,000mm, but tolerates 600 - 1,200mm[2]. Succeeds in most soils, preferring a moist moderately fertile well-drained soil in a sunny position[3]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 5.2 - 6.8[2]. Being wind -pollinated, Rumex species usually hybridize readily, especially with other members of the genus they are more closely related to[4]. The plant hybridizes in the wild with several other memberss of the genus including Rumex maritimus, Rumex confertus, Rumex conglomeratus and Rumex obtusifolius[4]. The plant does not need any help in growing, it is doing very nicely in many areas of the world from the temperate zone to the tropics, where it is a serious weed of agriculture. A very important food plant for the caterpillars of many species of butterfly[5].

Propagation

Seed - this plant does not require any help in its propagation. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Rumex+crispus>

Pollinators

Wind

References

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  2. [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  5. [5]Butterflies and Moths in Britain and Europe. — Carter D. · Pan · 1982 · ISBN 0-330-26642-x ↩︎An excellent book on Lepidoptera, it also lists their favourite food plants.
  6. [6]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
  7. [7]Flora of New South Wales — http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/floraonline.htm ↩︎An on-line resource giving a brief botanical description of all the native plants of New South Wales, their habitat and range, together with diagrams and photographs of the plants.
  8. [8]Food for Free. — Mabey. R. · Collins · 1974 · ISBN 0-00-219060-5 ↩︎Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.
  9. [9]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  10. [10]Herbs — Phillips. R. & Foy. N. · Pan Books Ltd. London. · 1990 · ISBN 0-330-30725-8 ↩︎Deals with all types of herbs including medicinal, culinary, scented and dye plants. Excellent photographs with quite good information on each plant.
  11. [11]Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. — Harrington. H. D. · University of New Mexico Press · 1967 · ISBN 0-8623-0343-9 ↩︎A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants.
  12. [12]Wild Food Plants of Indiana. — McPherson. A. and S. · Indiana University Press · 1977 · ISBN 0-253-28925-4 ↩︎A nice pocket guide to this region of America.
  13. [13]Britain's Wild Larder. — Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. · David & Charles; Newton Abbot. · ISBN 0-7153-7971-2 ↩︎A handy pocket guide.
  14. [14]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  15. [15]Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. — Saunders. C. F. · Dover Publications · 1976 · ISBN 0-486-23310-3 ↩︎Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.
  16. [16]Native American Ethnobotany — Moerman. D. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 1998 · ISBN 0-88192-453-9 ↩︎Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
  17. [17]Medicinal Plants of China — Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. · Reference Publications, Inc. · 1985 · ISBN 0-917256-20-4 ↩︎Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
  18. [18]Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest. — Schofield. J. J. · Alaska Northwest Books; Alaska · 2003 · ISBN 0882403699 ↩︎A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.
  19. [19]Native Harvests. — Kavasch. B. · Vintage Books · 1979 · ISBN 0-394-72811-4 ↩︎Another guide to the wild foods of America.
  20. [20]A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants. — Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. · Van Nostrand Reinhold · 1982 · ISBN 0442222009 ↩︎Very readable.
  21. [21]The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. — Coffey. T. · Facts on File. · 1993 · ISBN 0-8160-2624-6 ↩︎A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.
  22. [22]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  23. [23]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  24. [24]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  25. [25]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  26. [26]Common Edible and Useful Plants of the West. — Sweet. M. · Naturegraph Co. · 1962 · ISBN 0-911010-54-8 ↩︎Useful wild plants in Western N. America. A pocket guide.
  27. [27]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  28. [28]A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Wildflowers — Craighead. J., Craighead. F. and Davis. R. · The Riverside Press · 1963 · ISBN 63-7093 ↩︎Excellent little pocket guide to the area, covering 590 species and often giving details of their uses.
  29. [29]A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. — Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. · Houghton Mifflin Co. · 1990 · ISBN 0395467225 ↩︎A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
  30. [30]The Complete Homeopathy Handbook. — Castro. M. · Macmillan. London. · 1990 · ISBN 0-333-55581-3 ↩︎A concise beginner's guide to the subject. Very readable.
  31. [31]Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. — Grae. I. · MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. · 1974 · ISBN 0-02-544950-8 ↩︎A very good and readable book on dyeing.
  32. [32]CosIng — http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/ ↩︎CosIng is the European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients.
  33. [33]Commonsense Compost Making. — Bruce. M. E. · Faber · 1977 · ISBN 0-571-09990-4 ↩︎Excellent little booklet dealing with how to make compost by using herbs to activate the heap. Gives full details of the herbs that are used.
  34. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎