Western Dock, Marsh Dock, Rumex occidentalis,Buckwheat Family (Polygonaceae)

Found in wet areas, riverbanks, ditches
Seen blooming in June by Acequia de La Puente, Abiquiu

​Western Dock grows from 4 to 6 feet tall. Leaves are narrowly triangular or lance-shaped up to 14" long with smooth or slightly wavy edges. Flowers are greenish-pink and grow in dense clusters on branches at the top of the stems. Flower heads turn reddish-brown at maturity. The flower to the right of the Dock is Showy Milkweed. Western Dock is edible. Young leaves can be cooked and used like spinach. They have a bitter taste; Native Americans added oil to improve the flavor. Young stems can be cooked and used like rhubarb. Seeds can be ground into a powder and used to make a gruel or added to cereal flours when making bread etc. but they are rather small and fiddly to harvest. Traditionally, the leaves have been used in herbal sweat baths to treat pains similar to rheumatism all over the body. A poultice of the leaves and mashed, roasted roots was applied to sores, boils and wounds. A poultice of the root paste was applied to cuts and boils. Source. In modern Dermatology an extract from the plant is used to reduce the formation of unwanted pigmentation and age spots and to improve skin tone. When I was a child in England we were told to rub the juice from a crushed dock leaf on nettle stings; it worked.
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