Western dock is a stout tap-rooted perennial (0.5-2 m tall). The initial basal rosette and eventual flowering stem bear oblong egg-shaped leaves with ocreas and wavy margins. The inflorescence is usually greenish with tiny flowers in dense panicles. The flowers are 3-parted and the fruits are winged and triangular. Western dock occurs sporadically in moist to wet meadows, streambanks, and beaches at low to middle elevations; it is not as weedy as curly dock.