CHENOPODIACEAE

GOOSEFOOT FAMILY

Dieter H. Wilken, except as specified

Annual to tree, sometimes monoecious or dioecious, glandular or with bead-like hairs that collapse with age, becoming scaly or powdery
Stem often fleshy
Leaves generally alternate, entire to lobed; veins generally pinnate
Inflorescence: raceme, spike, catkin-like, or spheric cluster, or flower 1; bracts 0–few
Flower: sepals 1–5, often 0 in pistillate flowers, free or fused, generally persistent in fruit; petals 0; stamens 0–5; ovary generally superior, chamber 1, ovule 1, styles 1–3
Fruit: generally utricle
Seed 1, vertical (fruit compressed side-to-side) or horizontal (fruit compressed top-to-bottom)
Genera in family: 100 genera, 1300 species: worldwide, especially deserts, saline or alkaline soils; some cultivated for food (Beta , beets, chard; Chenopodium , quinoa)
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated in expanded Amaranthaceae

ALLENROLFEA

IODINE BUSH

Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Robert Allen Rolfe, English botanist, 1855–1921)

Native

A. occidentalis (S. Watson) Kuntze

Shrub 50–200 cm, glabrous
Stem much-branched, jointed; internodes 5–20 mm, green to ± glaucous, fleshy
Leaves sessile, ± decurrent, scale-like, triangular
Inflorescence: spike, 5–25 mm, cylindric, sessile; flowers spirally arranged; bracts peltate
Flower bisexual; calyx 1–1.5 mm, 4–5-lobed, enclosing and falling with fruit; stamens 1–2, exserted; stigmas 2
Fruit ± 1 mm, ovoid
Seed red-brown
Ecology: Saline soils, flats, bluffs
Elevation: < 1300 m.
Bioregional distribution: San Joaquin Valley, e San Francisco Bay Area, Inner South Coast Ranges, n Western Transverse Ranges, e Peninsular Ranges, s East of Sierra Nevada, Desert
Distribution outside California: to Oregon, Idaho, Texas, n Mexico
Flowering time: Jun–Aug
Horticultural information: TRY.