GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. Chenopodiaceas. 



GOOSEFOOT FAMILY. Chenopodiacece. 



Uninteresting herbs weeds, many of which are from 

 the old country ; with minute green, perfect flowers 

 with a persisting calyx. The spinach and beet are mem- 

 bers of this family. 



Lamb's=quar= The family is divided into nine tribes, 

 ters, or Pig- chief among which is Chenopodium. Some 

 weec . of these are quite western, others are of 

 album C *ke ^ w orld and have been introduced in 



Green the east. Lamb's-quarters is common east 



June-Septem= and west. Leaves mealy- white beneath, 

 varying from rhombic-oval to lance-shaped 

 or narrower, the lower ones coarse-toothed. The green 

 flower-clusters dense, and dull green. Var. viride, 

 commoner eastward, is less mealy, and has a less dense 

 flower-spike (Gray's Manual). 1-4 feet high. Waste 

 places. The name from the Greek meaning goose and 

 foot, in allusion to the shape of the leaves of some 

 species. 



Jerusalem Oak, An annual species, from the old country, 

 or Feather not mealy, but with an aromatic odor. 



Geranium Leaves smaller, slender stemmed, and 



Chenopodium . . , ... . , , mi ~ 



Botrys deeply subdivided. The flowers green in 



Green dense heads, the spike leafless, the calyx 



July-Septem- three-parted. 1-2 feet high. In autumn 

 ber the leaves fall off and leave the stem and 



seed-spike naked. C. ambrosioides, or Mexican Tea, is a 

 similar introduced species, with a densely flowered leafy 

 spike ; the leaves lanceolate. Both are common in waste 

 places. Chenopodium ambrosioides var. anthelminticum, 

 or Wormseed, differs from the typical C. ambrosioides 

 in its leaves which are coarsely toothed and sometimes 

 deeply incised, and its flower-spike which is more elon- 

 gated and nearly leafless. At most the leaves of C. am- 

 brosioides are wavy-edged or else toothless, but the 

 variety is inconstant, and individual plants with inter- 

 grading leaves are common. In the south the var. an- 

 thelminticum is perennial; otherwise both type and 

 variety are annuals. 2-3 feet high. Naturalized from 

 Tropical America. 



