Curly Dock

Oh no, your poor friend. That's one way to keep down the visitors :)
The whole field this curly was in looked like an allergic nightmare.

Not only are the huge tap roots a killer, but I've found that at least one friend was quite allergic to its pollen.

You're a good plant mama :) I enjoy some weeds nearly as much as my plants but you know the cost!

I once mistook a curly dock plant for a plant/flower in my garden and fed it and watered it. I was so embarrassed and that curly dock had a huge tap root like you wouldn't believe. :0 Now I can see what I would have gotten had I let the plant grow.....

Then it's definitely Curly Dock. That was my only hesitation, the color. It's nearly always dry here so no doubt that's what happened. Thank you!

Curly dock begins its bloom as bright red, but by this phase of seed development it is often very dark red or brown. If it's been dry around there, the leaves probably dried up and fell off. Notice the reddish brown stem; this plant is nearly over as the seeds are ripe.

I returned to this plant and there were no leaves! I suspect they dried and crumbled up. The coloration on the image is true. No bright red anywhere.

The standard dock species in Oregon (and I suspect in your area) is curly dock, although its flowers usually turn a bright red rather than this dark a burgundy. But the flowers are big like this.

Wow, you're on a roll, monkey-mind and nana-puppet! Thank you! I know I cut off part of the plant but I have to admit, I didn't see leaves. I'll look again the next time I go out there. Thanks again!

Rumex I´d say too - which one is hard to tell without leaves...

Nicole, I see what you mean about Sorgum but I believe Scott is correct although I can't tell which species it is. Thank you both for your help!!!!

It's some member of the buckwheat family, probably a dock, genus Rumex. They're hard to tell apart: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symb...

This looks like sorgum to me.