CHENOPODIUM ALBUM

Family:- Amaranthaceae

Common Name:- Baconweed, Dirtweed, Fat-hen, Frost Blite, White Goosefoot

Synonyms:- Atriplex alba, Botrys albus, Chenopodium album var. commune,

Chenopodium viride var. album.

Meaning:- Chenopodium (Gr) Goose-foot.

Album (L) White.

General description:- Herbaceous plant.

Stems:- .

a) erect, grooved, angular, simple or branched.

b) generally with bands alternatively white and green, striated with red.

c) hairless.

Leaves:-

a) Alternate.

b) simple, lance to diamond-shaped, stalked.

c) blade of the leaf flat but with the margin winding strongly inward and outward

(sinuate), hairless, toothed, seldom entire.

d) often floury on the lower surface.

Flowers:-

a) from 1 to 2mm in diam.

b) radially symmetrical.

c) greenish white.

d) joined together in branched spikes from 5 to 10cm length.

1) Perianth:

a) with 5 free or scarcely partly fused tepals.

2) Stamens:

a) 5 opposite the tepals.

3) Ovary superior.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes:

a) with ridged lobes, completely hidden by the perianth.

2) Seeds:

a) shiny and smooth.

Habitat:- Cultivated places, waste ground, waysides.

Distribution:- Widespread and common across the Mediterranean. fairly

widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- May-Oct.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton