TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
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 0few
Flower: sepals 15, often 0 in pistillate flowers, free or fused, generally persistent in fruit; petals 0; stamens 05; ovary generally superior, chamber 1, ovule 1, styles 13
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
Annual or perennial herb, glabrous, glandular, or powdery
Stem: branches 0 to generally ± spreading
Leaves generally petioled, linear to deltate, entire to lobed, reduced upward; base generally tapered
Inflorescence: spheric clusters, spikes, or panicle-like, generally dense; bracts generally 0; flowers generally sessile
Flower: calyx segments generally 5, fused or not, persistent, flat to keeled; stamens generally 5; ovary lenticular to spheric, stigmas 25
Seed vertical or horizontal, red-brown to black; wall very thin
Species in genus: ± 150 species: temp; some cultivated for food or grain
Etymology: (Greek: goose foot, from leaf shape of some)
Reference: [Wahl 1954 Bartonia 27:146; Crawford 1975 Brittonia 27:279288]
Fr generally required for identification.
Native |
Annual 3080 cm
Leaf: blade 830 mm, narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, entire, ± densely powdery below, glabrous to sparsely powdery above
Flower: sepals not enclosing fruit, smooth, powdery
Fruit ± 1 mm diam; wall adherent to seed
Seed horizontal
Chromosomes: 2n=18
Ecology: Open places, scrub, woodland
Elevation: 3002700 m.
Bioregional distribution: Sierra Nevada, Inner South Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, Great Basin Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: to Wyoming, New Mexico
Much like C. leptophyllum.