Jepson Herbarium
		University of California, Berkeley

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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

Annual to shrub, glabrous to hairy.
Leaf: generally alternate; blade entire, cylindric to adaxially flattened or completely flattened, fleshy, generally glaucous, tip acute [ obtuse to round].
Inflorescence: cyme; clusters sessile, generally in panicles of spikes; bracts leaf-like to reduced; bractlets subtending flowers 1–3, minute, membranous; flowers 1–12 per cluster.
Flower: generally bisexual; calyx radial, bilateral, or asymmetric, lobes 5, generally fleshy, rounded, hooded, keeled, horned, or wing-margined; ovary ± lenticular, rounded, conic or pear-shaped, neck occasionally narrowed, stigmas 2–4(5).
Fruit: enclosed in calyx.
Seed: horizontal or vertical, lenticular or flat, of 2 kinds in some species
115 species: worldwide, saline and alkaline soils. (Ancient Arabic name) [Ferren & Schenk 2003 FNANM 4:390–398]

Annual < 8 dm, glabrous, glaucous.
Stem: prostrate to erect, 1–several; branches generally decumbent to ascending, green to dark red, generally striped.
Leaf: generally tightly ascending, < 40 mm, linear, sessile; adaxial surface flat, green to ± red.
Inflorescence: generally dense, branched; flowers 3–7 per cluster; bracts subtending branches = leaves; bracts subtending flowers < leaves, generally widest proximal to middle, fresh bracts membranous-margined at base.
Flower: bilateral, 1–4 mm including horns; mature calyx lobes horned, ± keeled, wing-margined; ovary rounded to lenticular, stigmas generally 2, glabrous.
Seed: horizontal; lenticular seeds 0.8–1.7 mm, shiny, generally black; flat seeds 1–1.5 mm, dull, brown.
2n=36,54. Saline or alkaline, wetland soils, generally dried; < 2200 m. California;

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Next taxon: Suaeda californica

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Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
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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Bioregions in which taxon occurs	Red area (if present) is the part of the bioregion lying between the upper and lower elevation limits of the taxon; markers link to CCH specimen records. If the markers are obscured, reload the page [or change window size and reload]. Yellow markers indicate records that may have georeferencing or identification issues.
Chart based on elevation range in Manual and elevations and coordinates of CCH records. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. Note: About half of the CCH records include both elevation and coordinates.	Map made in collaboration with Scott Loarie. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. View all CCH records   CCH collections by month Duplicates counted once; synonyms included. Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa. Blue line denotes Manual flowering time.