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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

MONOLEPIS

POVERTY WEED

Annual, generally glabrous
Leaves alternate, generally reduced upward
Inflorescence: clusters generally axillary, 1–15+-flowered; bracts leaf-like
Flower bisexual or pistillate; sepals 1–3; stamens 0–1; style branches 2
Fruit: wall pitted to tubercled, sometimes adherent to seed
Seed generally vertical
Species in genus: 3 species: w North America
Etymology: (Greek: 1 scale, from sepal number in most species)

Native

M. nuttalliana (Schult.) Greene

Plant 4–40 cm
Stems 2–many from base, ascending to erect, fleshy
Leaf 10–45 mm, lanceolate, fleshy, 2-toothed to hastate
Inflorescence: flowers generally 5–15+ per cluster
Flower: sepal oblanceolate to obovate
Fruit 1.5–2 mm; wall minutely pitted, adherent to seed
Seed dark brown
Ecology: Open, disturbed, often wet places
Elevation: < 3500 m.
Bioregional distribution: California (except Northwestern California)
Distribution outside California: to c N.America, n Mexico
Flowering time: Apr–Sep
Often confused with Chenopodium.

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