CHENOPODIUM 
156 
as long as the leaves, with ascending or wide-spreading branches ; branches short, either sub-simple 
or compound. Achenes not wholly enclosed by the persistent perianths. Seeds black, slightly 
rugose, about 07 mm. in diameter. 
(a) C. polyspermum var. acutifolium Gaudin FI. Helv. ii, 259 (1828) ; Ascherson FI. Brandenb. 568(1864); 
Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 11 (1868). C. acutifolium Smith Eng. Bot. no. 1481 (1805)!; C. polyspermum var. spicato- 
racemosum Koch Syn. 607 (1837); C. polyspermum var. spicatum Moquin Chenop. Monogr. Enum. 22 (1840); 
Rouy FI. France xii, 47 (1910); C. polyspermum var. erection Sonder FI. Hamb. 142 (1851). 
leones: — Curtis FI. Lond. i, 52 as C. polyspermum ; Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1481, as C. acutifolium ; Beck 
in Reichenbach Icon, xxiv, t. 236, fig. 2, as C. polyspermum var. spicatum. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 156. (a, b). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 1318, as C. polyspermion \ Gandoger, 356, as C. acutifolium ; Todaro, 1324, as C. poly- 
spermum ; Herb. FI. Ingric. iv, 5 1 1 (partim), as C. polyspermion. 
Usually erect. Laminae of the upper leaves broadly lanceolate, usually acute. Inflorescence 
with spicoid branches, branches much 
shorter than in var. obtusifolium. 
From the Channel Isles, Cornwall, and 
Kent northwards to Berwickshire ; rare in 
Wales and northern England ; rare or not 
distinguished in Ireland — counties Cork and 
Dublin. 
{b) C. polyspermum var. obtusifolium 
Gaudin FI. Helv. ii, 258 (1828); C. polysper- 
mum Smith loc. cit., in sensu stricto ! ; C. poly- 
spermum var. cymosum Chevallier FI. Paris 
£d. 2, ii, 385 (1836); Rouy FI. France xii, 47 
(1910); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. v, 27 
(1913); C. polyspermion var. cymoso-racemosion 
Koch Syn. 607 (1837); C. polyspermum var. 
prostratum Sonder FI. Hamb. 142 (1851); C. 
polyspermum var. genuinum Syme Eng. Bot. 
viii, ii (1868). 
leones: — Smith FI. Lond. t. 1480, as 
C. polyspermum ; Beck in Reichenbach Icon. 
xxiv, t. 236, fig. 1, as C. polyspermum var. 
cymosum. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 156. (c, d). 
Exsiccata : — Linn. herb. ; Smith herb. ; 
as C. polyspermum ; Herb. FI. Ingric. iv, 5 1 1 
(partim), as C. polyspermum. 
Usually prostrate or decumbent. 
Laminae all or mostly obtuse, usually 
of a darker green, and rather thicker. 
Inflorescence with branches having more 
slender, longer, and more divaricate 
stalks. . 
Map 30. Distribution of Chenopodium polyspermum in the British Isles. 
Northwards to Shropshire and Leicester- The V ar. acutifolium occurs in all the counties which are shaded, and the var. 
shire ; less frequent than var. acutifolium but obtusifolium in those which are shaded more darkly 
in the same kind of localities. 
Range more extended than that of var. acutifolium , occurring in Asia Minor, central Asia, and North 
America (adventitious). 
Damp, rich, cultivated ground, road-sides, waste places, and farmyards ; in southern and eastern 
England chiefly, and confined to the lowlands ; from the Channel Isles, Cornwall, and Kent 
northwards to Cheshire and Lincolnshire, and the North Riding of Yorkshire and Berwickshire. 
Adventitious in most of its more northerly stations. Ireland — co. Cork and co. Dublin — perhaps 
not indigenous. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, southern 
Europe; Asia; North America (adventitious). 
