Chenopodium berlandieri var. boscianum

Leaf blades rhombic-triangular or ovate-lanceolate, (1-)2-4 cm, not 3-lobed or only slightly so, margins dentate or distally entire. Inflorescences erect, delicate, becoming bractless distally. Seeds 1-1.3 mm diam.

Fruiting Aug-Sep. Beaches, sandy soils, or marshes; 0-10 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.J., N.Y., Pa., S.C., Tex., Va., W.Va.

Annual herb 10 cm - 1 m tall Stem: white-mealy. Leaves: alternate, stalked, 1 - 4 cm long, diamond-triangular or egg- lance-shaped, sometimes toothed near the apex, not lobed (or just slightly so), white-mealy. Inflorescence: a dense, irregularly rounded cluster of flowers (glomerule), which together form a delicate, upright spike. Flowers: greenish, small, with five nearly distinct sepals and no petals. Sepals often prominently keeled, white-mealy. Stamens five. Stigmas two. Fruit: one-seeded (achene or utricle), sometimes enclosed in the persistent, incurved sepals, blackish, depressed egg-shaped, thin-walled. Wall (pericarp) adherent or non-adherent to the seed, honeycomb-like. Seed brown, 1 - 1.3 mm wide, round, round-margined, honeycomb-like.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: late June to mid-October

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe. A weed of cultivated and waste ground.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Chenopodium comes from the Greek words chen, meaning goose, and podion, meaning "little foot," referring to the leaf shape of some species. Berlandieri is named after Jean Louis Berlandier (1805-1851), the botanist who discovered the species.

Author: The Morton Arboretum