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 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 1few per axil
Flower generally bisexual; calyx lobes 5, incurved, keeled and tubercled to winged in fruit; stamens 5; stigmas 23
Fruit ± compressed-spheric
Seed horizontal
Species in genus: ± 20 species: w North America, Eurasia
Etymology: (Wilhelm D. Koch, German physician & botanist, 17711849)
Introduced |
Annual 30120 cm
Stem simple to much-branched, glabrous to silky-hairy
Leaf 850 mm, 13.5 mm wide, flat, glabrous to short-soft-hairy, 35-veined below middle
Inflorescence: flowers generally 37 per axil
Flower: calyx lobes short-hairy, with tubercles or wings < 1 mm, < 1 mm wide in fruit
Ecology: Disturbed places, fields, roadsides
Elevation: < 1500 m.
Bioregional distribution: Great Central Valley, n San Francisco Bay Area, South Coast, Great Basin Floristic Province, Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, expected elsewhere
Distribution outside California: to e US, Europe; native to Asia
Flowering time: AugOct
Synonyms: vars. culta Farw. & subvillosa Moq