Common name: Arrowleaf Dock, Yellow Sock, Curled sock • Hindi: चुर्की Churki, चुर्का churka• Urdu: Khatti Buti
Botanical name: Rumex hastatus Family: Polygonaceae (Knotweed family)
Arrowleaf Dock is a fairly common small shrub, growing on dry slopes, rocks
and walls between 700-2500 m, typically in north-Indian hill stations. It is
a bushy shrub with many ascending stems. Stems woody at base, leaves narrow
and arrow shaped with a pair of narrow spreading basal lobe. Leaves vary a
lot in length and breadth. The stems have numerous thin branches with
terminal very slender clusters of distant whorls of tiny greenish pink or
pinkish green flowers. Flowers very small, flower stalk lengthening in fruit.
Leaves broadly triangular, stalked, fruit pinkish. Flowering: June-October.
Medicinal uses: The leaf extract of plant are applied on wounds and
cuts to check bleeding. Plant is also believed to relieve from suffering of
nettle sting. Root is laxative alternative, tonic, and anti rheumatic and can
be used in skin disease.
| Photographed in Himachal Pradesh. |
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