CHENOPODIUM ALBUM

Family and Genus:- See- Amaranthaceae

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

Homotypic 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:- .

1) Erect, grooved, angular, simple or branched, generally with bands alternatively

white and green, striated with red, glabrous.

Leaves:-

1) Alternate, simple, lance to diamond-shaped, petiolate.

a) blade, flat but with a sinuate margin, glabrous, dentate, seldom entire.

often farinose.

Flowers:-

1) From 1 to 2mm in diam, radially symmetrical, greenish white, united into

branched spikes from 5 to 10cm length.

1) Perianth, with 5 free or scarcely partly fused tepals.

2) Stamens, 5 opposite the tepals.

3) Ovary superior.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, with ridged lobes, completely hidden by the perianth.

2) Seeds, shiny and smooth.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

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