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

ATRIPLEX

SALTBUSH

Dean Taylor and Dieter H. Wilken

Annual (generally monoecious) to shrub (generally dioecious), often scaly
Leaves generally alternate, generally entire; lower generally ± short-petioled; upper generally sessile, ± reduced
Staminate inflorescence: spike or spheric cluster; bracts 0
Pistillate inflorescence: clusters to spike- or panicle-like; bracts 2 per fruit, free to fused, generally compressed, generally sessile
Staminate flower: calyx lobes 3–5; stamens 3–5
Pistillate flower: calyx ± 0; ovary ovoid to spheric, style branches 2
Seed generally erect
Species in genus: ± 250 species: temp to subtropical worldwide
Etymology: (Latin: ancient name)
Generally in alkaline or saline soils; some weedy; some accumulate selenium.

Native

A. fruticulosa Jeps.

Perennial < 5 dm, monoecious
Stem generally simple below; branches many, ± decumbent to erect, scaly, becoming glabrous
Leaf: blade 5–12(20) mm, narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, densely gray-scaly
Pistillate inflorescence: bracts in fruit 3–5 mm, fused to middle or above, widely obovate to subspheric, ± hard, smooth to few-tubercled below middle, margin irregularly dentate to sharply tubercled
Seed ± 1.5 mm
Ecology: Clay or alkaline soils, open sites, scrub
Elevation: < 700 m.
Bioregional distribution: Tehachapi Mountain Area, s Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, Inner South Coast Ranges, w Mojave Desert
Flowering time: Apr–Nov
Horticultural information: TRY.