Rumex brownii Campd., Polygonaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Reject, score: 16 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: brown dock, hooked dock, slender dock, swamp dock

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Erect, glabrous perennial herbs; stems 3-10 dm long.  Leaves primarily basal, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, usually 8-16 cm long, 0.8-1.8 cm wide, glabrous, margins erose-crenulate, apex acute, base cordate to very broadly hastate, petioles usually 2.5-9.5 cm long.  Flowers perfect, 5-16 in clusters, these widely spaced in racemose, sometimes branched inflorescences; outer tepals ca. 1 mm long, the valves ca. 1.2 mm long, enlarging to 2-4 mm long in fruit, the margins with hooked awn-like teeth more than 1 mm long, the apical one slightly longer than others, the faces without tubercles.  Nuts dull brown, ca. 2 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 1066-1067).

Habitat/ecology:  Collected at 850 m on East Maui and 1,520 and 1,610 m in dry open areas on the island of Hawai‘i (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 1066-1067). In New Zealand, "open, often very dry situations such as cliff tops and coastal headlands, roadsides, waste places, poor pastures, stony riverbeds and on talus deposits" (Webb et al., 1988; p. 982).  In Papua New Guinea (native); "in open, usually somewhat disturbed, localities, at 2000 m to more than 3000 m altitude; creek-banks in grassland, roadsides, gardens"  (Womersley, 1978; p. 248).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Australia.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced	Pickard, J. (1984) (p. 207)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 20) "A relatively common weed of gardens, waste places etc.". Vouchers cited: J.C. Game 69/224a (K), P.S. Green 1573 (A, K)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 10) "A relatively common weed of gardens, waste places etc.". Vouchers cited: P. Ralston 51 (A, K), G. Uhe 1195 (K), G. Uhe 1122 (K), P.S. Green 1457 (A)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1066-1067) Uncommon per Wagner. Voucher cited: Christ s n. (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 1066-1067) East Maui. Uncommon per Wagner.
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands		Swarbrick, John T. (1997) (p. 96)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Tassin, Jacques (2005)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 117) Vouchers cited: Pancher 433, Cherrier in MacKee 41006
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced invasive	Sykes, W. R. (1977) (p. 130)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 982) "Open, often very dry situations such as cliff tops and coastal headlands, roadsides, waste places, poor pastures, stony riverbeds and on talus deposits".
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	native	Womersley, John S., ed. (1978) (p. 248)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 181)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 982)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Rumex brownii is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Rumex brownii as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Rumex brownii may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Orchard, Anthony E., ed. 1994. Flora of Australia. Vol. 49, Oceanic islands 1. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Pickard, J. 1984. Exotic plants on Lord Howe Island: Distribution in space and time, 1853-1981. J. of Biogeography 11:181-208.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

Sykes, W. R. 1977. Kermadec Islands flora: an annotated checklist. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 219, Wellington. 216 pp.

Tassin, Jacques. 2005. Jacques Tassin (IAC-CIRAD), personal communication.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Womersley, John S., ed. 1978. Handbooks of the flora of Papua New Guinea, vol. 1. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. 278 pp.