CHENOPODIASTRUM MURALE

Family:- Amaranthaceae

Common Name:- Nettle-leaved goosefoot

Synonyms:- Anserina muralis, Atriplex muralis, Chenopodium murale.

Meaning:- Chenopodiastrum (Gr) Goose-foot.

Murale (L) Growing on walls, of the walls.

General description:- Herbaceous annual.

Stems:-

a) (3-) 10-90 cm.

b) usually erect.

c) often much-branched at the base.

d) branches ± between spreading and erect (erecto-patent).

e) lowermost subopposite.

f) yellowish to green-striate, rarely tinged red.

Leaves:-

a) 1-8(-I0) cm long.

b) uppermost, lanceolate, sometimes entire.

c) blade longer than or equalling the stalk (petiole), thin to somewhat fleshy,

broadly triangular-ovate to rhombic, coarsely toothed (dentate) with slightly

incurved teeth, gradually narrowing (attenuate) to ending abruptly (truncate)

at the base, acute to obtuse.

d) olive-green, yellowish or tinged reddish, ± with a powdery covering (farinose);

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescences:

a) terminal and axillary.

b) mostly leafy.

c) densely branching, (divaricately branched); branches short, with small, ±

densely arranged in a cluster of stemless flowers (glomerules).

2) Flowers:

a) hermaphrodite, sometimes female.

3) Perianth segments:

a) 5.

b) united (connate) below the middle, prominently keeled near the apex,

c) vesicular-hairy.

d) green or turning red, persistent.

4) Stamens:

a) 5.

5) Stigmas

a) 2.

6) Pericarp:

a) prominently papillose.

b) firmly adherent.

Fruit:-

1) Seed:

a) 1.2-1.4 mm.

b) horizontal, roundish-lenticular, acutely keeled at the edges.

c) black.

d) testa with conspicuous non-elongated pits.

Key features:-

1) Plant not smelling strongly of decaying fish.

2) Leaves often ± dentate or lobed, not at all 3-lobed.

3) Seeds with acute margins.

4) Testa with minute, very close, rounded pits.

5) Perianth segments with a prominent green or red dorsal swelling near the apex.

6) Pericarp firmly adherent.

Habitat:- Weed of gardens, ruderal habitats, ditches, streambanks and open

woodland. 0-400(-1000) m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, mainly in coastal areas, possibly native to the

Mediterranean region and SW Asia, now almost a cosmopolitan weed. On Crete

widely scattered around the coastal regions.

Flowering time:- Mar-Nov.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis