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Chenopodium berlandieri - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Chenopodiaceae

Habitat

Disturbed ground.

Associates

Distribution

Throughout our area and south into Mexico.

Morphology

Annual herb, branching and spreading to 1 m. Leaves rhombic-ovate to lanceolate, 3-10 cm, broadly cuneate at the base, the lower leaves mostly 1.5-2 times as long as wide and toothed. Flowers in compact glomerules, forming continuous or interrupted spikes in a terminal paniculiform inflorescence. Pericarp this and delicate, closely adherent to the seed, cellular-reticulate (rough under magnification); uniformly black or blackish; seeds horizontal, black, shiny, mostly 1.0-1.5 mm wide, usually with a faint radial furrow, otherwise smooth..   

Notes

Flowers June to October

Wetland indicator: Facultative -

The leaves are edible. Similar to Chenopodium album L. which has a smooth pericarp, while C. berlandieri is said to have a pericarp that is cellular-reticulate. The former is introduced from Europe while the latter is native to North America.

Chenopodium album

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

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