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Japanese dock is a perennial dock native to East Asia, including Japan, Korea, and China, and it isn't a dock you're likely to find growing wild in the US. In the US, its look-alike curly dock (Rumex crispus) is the dock you'll usually meet. In Japan its young shoots are a spring wild vegetable, and its root has a long history in herbal medicine.

Appearance

Appearance
A tall dock, about 16 in–4 ft (40–130 cm), with a thick, hard, yellow root.
Leaves
Long, oblong basal leaves with wavy edges.
Flowers
Small, pale green flowers without petals in tall, branched clusters.
Fruit
Wing-like flaps with a raised bump on the back wrap the three-sided seed; their edges have fine teeth.

Look-alikes

curly dockRumex crispus

Curly dock's fruit wings have smooth edges, while Japanese dock's wings have fine teeth. Curly dock's leaf edges are also more strongly crinkled.

Why they get mixed upThe two look almost the same until fruits form.

bitter dockRumex obtusifolius

Bitter dock has larger, broader leaves (up to about 12 in, or 30 cm, long) with a heart-shaped base, and its fruit wings have horn-like teeth along the edges.

Where it lives

Typical habitats
  • damp roadsides
  • meadows
  • streambanks
  • rice paddy edges
Range
Native to Japan, Korea, China, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin.

Cautions

Cautions
Contains , so in Japan people are advised not to eat it raw or in large amounts.

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Japanese Dock (Rumex japonicus) — identification, habitat & look-alikes | Moeyo