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.
Introduced |
Annual 560 cm
Leaves: blades 738 mm, entire to irregularly toothed, ± glabrous; lower lanceolate to deltate, base 2-lobed to hastate; upper oblong to lanceolate, base tapered
Inflorescence 35 mm diam, axillary, ± spheric, leafy-bracted
Flower: sepals generally 3, ± enclosing fruit, smooth, generally glabrous, becoming ± reddish; stamens 34
Fruit 11.5 mm diam; wall ± adherent to seed
Seed generally vertical
Chromosomes: 2n=16,18
Ecology: Open, gravelly or sandy soils
Elevation: < 3700 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range Foothills, c High Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Great Basin Floristic Province, w Mojave Desert
Distribution outside California: to w Canada, c US; native to Europe
Flowering time: JunAug
Synonyms: C. overi Aellen
Plants with inflorescence clusters 10+ mm diam, reddish, fleshy, leafy bracts 0, have been called C. capitatum (L.) Asch., reported from nw CA.