# Name that Weed - Curly Dock or sour dock



## Chuck

Okay, folks, here's the next unidentified weed in my yard. Help me out please!



















The red one is the same plant, just more mature.

Any ideas?


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## Cyngbaeld

It looks kind of like tumble weed. AKa russian thistle, in the amaranth family.


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## agmantoo

Curly Dock


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## Cyngbaeld

agmantoo, I think you are right. I found a picture:

http://alfalfa.okstate.edu/weeds/winbroad/curly_dock/c-dock-59.htm

Tumble weed does look a lot like that picture tho. I've seen enough of the nasty little things in the last few years to last the rest of my life!


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## uncle Will in In.

Curly Dock or sour dock is what we called it when a cousin and I were rolling the dry seeds in newspaper and smoking it out in an old hog house in the chicken park. 

CHUCK. The weed that all your learned weedwhackers was positive was giant ragweed was Horse weed. Also horse weed and mares tail are not even close to being the same weed like it said in one reference. The corn belt has horse weeds to fight on millions of acres of crop land every year. They are exactly the same as the weed in your picture.


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## diane

yup...dock weed.........goats dearly love it. Still have goats Chuck?


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## agmantoo

Will in In.
I cannot agree with you on the Horseweed. Horseweed has many more leaves and the blooms are not the same as pictured. Are the leaves in an alternate pattern or are they in pairs? alternate = horseweed, pairs = ragweed. We need to get Chuck to measure the height of the weed to assist in the determination.


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## limhyl

Rumex Crispa in Latin. The root makes a good liver tonic. Theresa.


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## connie in WV

I think curly dock is it. Good job!

And Will, the leaves are in pairs, and I confirmed with a local farmer that it was giant ragweed. 

Perhaps the picture wasnt all that great.


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## connie in WV

About.com says Curly Dock is useful as an astringent and can alleviate constipation. Hmmm....


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## Ana Bluebird

Oh, please keep up the weed naming, folks. I love the "game". Many times we locals call weeds by different names, but so far, I'm doing great. Let's have some more.


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## connie in WV

diane said:


> yup...dock weed.........goats dearly love it. Still have goats Chuck?


I have eight goats roaming around my back pasture somewhere. I'm trying to get up to a hundred.


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## comfortablynumb

whats this strange one....


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## agmantoo

comfortablynumb, 
since this is farm related, lets call it hemp. Used solely for rope making


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## comfortablynumb

we all like rope....

(no it isnt my rope.... just a randomly yanked web graphic to test your sharpness..)


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## inc

i am interested in seed samples of different species of rumex.
looking for rumex with enormous seedheads, these are likely to be exotic import i am lookig for. would also like seaside (white top) nad some other species like the giant water docks.
i dont want seeds of that other thing. i will know the difference.


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## ibcnya

Looks like sourdock to me. And don't try to pull them out cause you will hurt your back trying. The tap root is 2 or 3 ft. long.


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## evilbunny

I never knew the real name of that plant but when I was a kid we always called it "coffee plant". We used the dry seeds to make pretend coffee. We never drank it but it sure reminded me of coffee grounds.

Glad to see a fellow Iowa on this board.

LOL


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