Rumex spinosus L., Sp. Pl. 33. 1753; Rumex glaber Forssk., Fl. Aeg-Arab. 75. 1775.

A decumbent, branched, glabrous up to 35 (-40) cm tall, annual, herb with fleshy roots. Leaves petiolate, petiole 2-6 cm long; blade ovate to ovate-oblong or oblong-cordate, 1.5-3.5 x 2-2.5 cm, obtuse, entire. Male flowers axillary and in long racemes,, 0.5-0.7 mm broad, ovate to ovate-lanceolate. Perianth, herbaceous, 3-6 lobed. Stamens 4-6, shorter than perianth segments. Female flowers in axillary clusters, sessile or subsessile. Nuts 4-5 x 3-4 mm including spines, enclosed in persistent perianth, the outer 3 segments ending into 0.5-1 mm long spine, each centrally ribbed and foveolate on either side with 3 longitudinal grooves, basally with 6 spiny protruberances, inner segments erect, broadly ovate or rounded with a mucro.

Fl. Per. March-May.

Type: Habitat in Creta, Herb. Linn. 464. 36 (LINN, Microfisch!).

A fairly common annual, grows mostly in dry, sandy places, as a weed; Distribution: Mediterranean region, extending to N.W. Spain and Azores, Turkey, Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.