You can find wood dock just about anywhere there is shade from trees. This is, of course, mainly in woodland habitats but it freely occurs along hedgerows where trees create shade. It is the only dock one is likely to find in these conditions. It has a preference for heavy, damp soils.
It is a much more delicate plant than the other common dock species which tend to be sturdy, significant plants. Wood dock grows to about two feet tall and the leaves tend to be only on the lower levels of the stems. The flower spikes occur in June and July but because they are red in colour similar to the reddish brown seed heads it can give the impression of flowering longer.
Sanguineus means "resembling or containing blood" which is a bit odd as I have never noticed anything of the sort in the plants I have seen. There is a garden variety called the blood-vein dock which has red veins in the leaves which has the latin name Rumex sanguineus var sanguineus.
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