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Key to families | Table of families and genera

This text currently parallels The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition that is now available at the University of California Press.

Text appearing in blue on this page will not appear in the printed book; it will be displayed only on the Web. Specimen numbers are hyperlinked to records in the Consortium of California Herbaria data view where possible. Taxa are hyperlinked to entries in the Jepson Interchange via the "[Online Interchange]" link.

 

CHENOPODIACEAE GOOSEFOOT FAMILY

Mihai Costea, family description, key to genera


Annual to shrub; hairs simple, stellate or glandular; plants generally scaly, mealy, or powdery from collapsed glands; generally monoecious.
Stem: occasionally fleshy.
Leaf: blade simple, generally alternate, occasionally fleshy or reduced to scales, veins pinnate; stipules 0.
Inflorescence: raceme, spike, catkin-like, spheric heads, or flowers 1; bracts 0–5, herbaceous, generally persistent or strongly modified in fruit, wings, tubercles or spines present or 0.
Flower: bisexual or unisexual, small, green; calyx parts (1)3–5, or 0 in pistillate flowers, free or fused basally, leaf-like in texture, membranous or fleshy, deciduous or not, generally strongly modified in fruit; corolla 0; stamens 1–5, opposite to calyx parts, filaments free, equal; anthers 4-chambered; ovary superior (1/2-inferior), chamber 1; ovule 1; styles, stigmas 1–4.
Fruit: achene or utricle, generally with persistent calyx or bracts.
Seed: 1, small, lenticular to spheric; seed coat smooth to finely dotted, warty, net-like, or prickly, margin occasionally winged.
100 genera, 1500 species: worldwide, especially deserts, saline or alkaline soils; some cultivated for food (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, beet, Swiss chard; Spinacia oleracea L., spinach; Chenopodium quinoa Willd., quinoa); and some worldwide, naturalized ruderal or noxious agricultural weeds. Nitrophila treated in Amaranthaceae, Sarcobatus treated in Sarcobataceae. —Scientific Editors: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Key to Chenopodiaceae

1. Sts jointed, ± fleshy or succulent; leaves scale-like

2. Lvs alternate; shrub ..... ALLENROLFEA

2' Lvs opposite; annual or subshrub

3. Fls sunken in fleshy bracts of distal internode, adherent to each other and to bracts, forming a 3-parted cavity at flower-fall ..... SALICORNIA

3' Fls sunken in axis, free, not forming a 3-parted cavity at flower-fall ..... ARTHROCNEMUM

1' Sts not jointed, generally not fleshy; leaves well developed

4. Lvs or inflorescence bracts spine- or bristle-tipped

5. Lvs, inflorescence bracts cylindric, abruptly bristle-tipped; calyx tip winged in fruit ..... HALOGETON

5' Lvs thread-like to ± cylindric, acute; bracts awl-like to ovate, generally spine-tipped; calyx in fruit abaxially generally tubercled to winged ..... SALSOLA

4' Lvs or inflorescence bracts not spine- or bristle-tipped

6. Plant with at least some stellate hairs, hairs generally golden-brown in age ..... KRASCHENINNIKOVIA

6' Plant glabrous to puberulent, hairy, minutely scaly, or powdery, green or ± gray

7. Lf blades generally fleshy, ± semicylindric

8. Calyx in fruit with horizontal, membranous wings or tubercles; leaves herbaceous ..... KOCHIA (3)

8' Calyx in fruit without wings or tubercles or occasionally horned or wing-margined; leaves fleshy ..... SUAEDA

7' Lf blades weakly fleshy, flattened

9. Pistillate flower calyx generally 0, generally enclosed in fruit by 2 enlarged, free or fused bracts

10. Plant generally with glands that collapse and become mealy or scaly; fruit bracts variously shaped, generally thickened, tubercled and appendaged or not ..... ATRIPLEX

10' Plant glabrous or with soft, branched hairs; fruit bracts ± round, flattened and winged, appendages 0 ..... GRAYIA

9' Pistillate, bisexual flowers generally with calyx (sometimes 0 if pistillate in Monolepis), not enclosed by 2 bracts

11. Calyx horizontally winged in fruit

12. Lf wavy-dentate; plant long-shaggy-hairy to tomentose, generally glabrous in age ..... CYCLOLOMA

12' Lf entire; plant generally glabrous, occasionally ± hairy ..... KOCHIA (3)

11' Calyx not horizontally winged in fruit

13. Calyx parts tubercled or with curved to hooked appendages

14. Calyx parts densely hairy, with curved to hooked appendages ..... BASSIA

14' Calyx parts glabrous to ciliate, tips tubercled ..... KOCHIA (3)

13' Calyx parts not tubercled, appendages 0

15. Ovary 1/2-inferior, embedded in receptacle; calyx thick, hard in fruit; fruits clustered ..... BETA

15' Ovary superior; calyx thin in fruit; fruits not adherent

16. Distal leaves cordate-clasping; style branches 3 ..... APHANISMA

16' Distal leaves not clasping; style branches generally 2

17. Calyx parts, stamens generally 5

18. Plant glandular ..... DYSPHANIA

18' Plant glabrous or powdery ..... CHENOPODIUM

17' Calyx parts (0)1–3, stamens 1–3(5)

19. Lvs generally linear to lance-linear or thread-like; calyx parts 1; stamens generally 3 ..... CORISPERMUM

19' Lvs elliptic, ± oblong, triangular-lanceolate, oblanceolate or spoon-shaped; calyx parts 0 or 1–3; stamens 1–2

20. St many-branched throughout, ultimate branches thread-like; flowers 1–3 per cluster ..... MICROMONOLEPIS

20' St simple or branched from base, not branched distally, ultimate branches not thread-like; flowers 4–15+ per cluster ..... MONOLEPIS

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Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].
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