Rumex arcticus Trautv.

vernacular arctic dock — species · Polygonaceae

USDA: RUAR6
GBIF: 2888974
Rank: species

arctic dock (Rumex arcticus) — Platephotograph · Alexey P. SereginCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae Juss.
Genus: Rumex

§2a

Native status, by region

AK Alaska Native
CAN Canada Native

§2b

County-level range

· 20 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 20 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: None
Shade: High
Fire: None
Salinity: Low
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -62 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 120 min.
Precipitation: 10–79 in/yr
pH range: 5–7.8
Root depth: 12 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 1 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Green
Fruit colour: Red
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: Slight

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Summer
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 544,718
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 20 counties across 1 state.

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/RUAR6 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2888974 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T09:28:40Z