92 CHENOPODIACE^ 



keeled at the edge ; annual. This species, which grows on waste places near 

 towns and villages, has shining leaves, and bears greenish spikes of rather 

 distant flowers, during August and September. It has an unpleasant odour, 

 but not of the same nature as that of the Stinking Goosefoot ; and its seeds 

 are much smaller than those of the last species. It is rare in England, more 

 so in Ireland, and absent from Scotland. 



5. Maple-leaved Goosefoot (C hyhridum). — Leaves somewhat heart- 

 shaped, with angular, large, distant lobes; flowers in crowded, panicled, 

 leafless cymes ; seeds dotted, their edge blunt and not keeled ; annual. This 

 is not a common plant, but it occurs in waste places and cultivated fields 

 south of Lancashire, and some other places. It flowei's in August, and has 

 slender stems and large leaves, with an unpleasant odour. This plant was 

 said by Tragus to be deleterious both to men and swine ; but this is very 

 doubtful, as the Goosefoots are a very hai-mless family of plants. 



6. White Goosefoot {C. album). — Leaves egg-shaped, somewhat rhom- 

 boid, deeply toothed, entire below ; upper ones lanceolate, nearly entire ; 

 flowers in branched, dense, nearly leafless spikes ; seeds smooth and shining, 

 bluntly keeled at the edge ; annual. In one form of this plant the leaves are 

 covered with a whitish mealy substance, and the upper part of their margins 

 is bluntly toothed, while another variety has green and almost entire leaves, 

 and is the C. viride of Linnaeus. This is the most common of all the Goose- 

 foots, and grows in waste places near houses, and in cultivated fields. Its 

 stem is from one to three feet high, and it bears from July to September 

 clustering spikes of greenish flowers. The fleshy leaves were formerly boiled 

 as greens, but they are probably little used now, as they form but an 

 insipid dish, decidedly inferior to that made of the common nettle. The 

 mealy substance on their surface suggested the name of White Goosefoot for 

 this plant, which is in France called Silver-weed {V anserine). The Germans 

 call it Giinsefuss ; the Dutch, Ganzevoet ; and the Danes, Gvasefod. 



1. Fig - leaved Goosefoot (C. ficifdlium). — Leaves thin, stalked, 

 unequally 3-lobed, from a wedge-shaped base, lobes ascending, middle lobe 

 elongated, toothed, blunt, upper leaves linear-lanceolate and entire; flowers 

 in erect nearly leafless racemes ; seeds shining, dotted, the edge blunt, and 

 not keeled; annual. This species is found on waste places and heaps of 

 refuse about London and Yarmouth, flowering in August and September. 

 The seeds are smaller than in G. dlhvm. 



8. Oak-leaved Goosefoot (C glailcum). — Leaves all oblong, toothed 

 and cut at the margin ; flowers in erect, nearly simple, leafless spikes ; seeds 

 very minute, reticulated, acutely keeled at the edge ; annual. This plant 

 grows rarely on sandy soils in waste places in several parts of the kingdom, 

 but is a native only in the south of England. It has a spreading, often 

 prostrate, stem, and greenish flowers in August. The leaves are mealy 

 beneath. 



9. Red Goosefoot {C. riibrum). — Leaves triangular, somewhat rhomboid, 

 toothed, and serrated ; spikes erect, dense, compound, leafy ; seeds very 

 minute, smooth, shining, blunt, and slightly keeled at the edge ; annual. A 

 form of this plant with triangular leaves, somewhat toothed, prostrate stems, 

 and its minute shining seeds acutely keeled at the edge, is by some writers 



