CHENOPODIASTRUM MURALE

Family and Genus:- See-Amaranthaceae

Common Name:- Nettle-leaved goosefoot

Homotypic 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:-

1) (3-) 10-90 cm, usually erect, often much-branched at the base.

a) branches ± erecto-patent, lowermost subopposite, yellowish to green-striate,

rarely tinged red.

Leaves:-

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

a) uppermost, lanceolate, sometimes entire.

b) blade, longer than or equalling the petiole, thin to somewhat fleshy,

broadly triangular-ovate to rhombic, coarsely dentate, with slightly

incurved teeth, attenuate) to truncate at the base, acute to obtuse. olive-

green,

yellowish or tinged reddish, ± farinose.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescences, terminal and axillary, mostly leafy, divaricately ranched, branches

short, with small, ± densely arranged in glomerules.

2) Flowers, hermaphrodite, sometimes female.

3) Perianth segments, 5, connate below the middle, prominently keeled near the

apex, vesicular-hairy, green or turning red, persistent.

4) Stamens, 5.

5) Stigmas, 2.

6) Pericarp, prominently papillose, firmly adherent.

Fruit:-

1) Seed, 1.2-1.4 mm, horizontal, roundish-lenticular, acutely keeled at the edges.

black.

a) testa, with conspicuous non-elongated pits.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

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