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

KOCHIA

Annual to subshrub, generally erect, generally short-hairy
Leaves alternate or opposite, linear to lanceolate, flat to cylindric, fleshy or not
Inflorescence: spike or clusters; bracts leaf-like; flowers 1–few per axil
Flower generally bisexual; calyx lobes 5, incurved, keeled and tubercled to winged in fruit; stamens 5; stigmas 2–3
Fruit ± compressed-spheric
Seed horizontal
Species in genus: ± 20 species: w North America, Eurasia
Etymology: (Wilhelm D. Koch, German physician & botanist, 1771–1849)

Native

K. californica S. Watson

Perennial or subshrub 20–60 cm
Stems 1–few from base, erect, branched throughout, densely gray- to brown-puberulent
Leaf 3–12 mm, 1.5–3 mm wide, generally well spaced, generally flat, ± fleshy, silky-hairy; vein obscure or 1
Inflorescence: flowers 1–5 per axil
Flower: calyx lobes densely short-hairy, wings in fruit ± 1–2 mm, < 3 mm wide
Ecology: Alkaline soils, flats
Elevation: < 1000 m.
Bioregional distribution: s San Joaquin Valley, Mojave Desert
Distribution outside California: s Nevada
Flowering time: May–Sep