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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

CHENOPODIUM

PIGWEED, GOOSEFOOT

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 2–5
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 27:1–46; Crawford 1975 Brittonia 27:279–288]
Fr generally required for identification.

Native

C. californicum (S. Watson) S. Watson

Perennial 20–90+ cm; caudex stout, fleshy
Stems several from base, decumbent to ascending
Leaf: blade 15–90+ mm, ± deltate, coarsely dentate to wavy-toothed, green to glaucous, base truncate to hastate, tip acute
Inflorescence: axillary, ± spheric, < 10 mm diam; terminal spikes, 8–20 cm, interrupted
Flower: calyx tube enclosing fruit, lobes ± erect, flat, ± glabrous
Fruit 1.5–2 mm diam; wall adherent to seed
Seed vertical
Ecology: Generally open sites, sandy to clay soils
Elevation: < 2000 m.
Bioregional distribution: s North Coast, Outer North Coast Ranges, c&s Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi Mountain Area, Great Central Valley, Central Western California, Southwestern California, s East of Sierra Nevada, w Mojave Desert
Distribution outside California: Baja California
Flowering time: Mar–Jun

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