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. spathulata A. Gray

Plant 2–25 cm
Stems 3–11 from base, decumbent to erect, fleshy
Leaf 3–120 mm, narrowly oblanceolate, fleshy, entire
Inflorescence: flowers 4–15+ per cluster
Flower: sepal oblanceolate
Fruit ± 0.5 mm; wall minutely papillate, ± free from seed
Seed red-brown
Ecology: Open places, scrub, coniferous forest
Elevation: 1400–2600 m.
Bioregional distribution: High Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, East of Sierra Nevada
Distribution outside California: to Idaho, Nevada, Baja California
Flowering time: Jun–Sep