i6o 
CHENOPODIUM 
Annual, mealy, with the odour of C. vulvaria when young, but fainter. Stem erect or 
decumbent, 3 — 8 dm. high, angular, branched. Petioles about two-thirds as long as the laminae. 
Laminae — lower ones rhomboidal, broadly cuneate and subentire below, coarsely and irregularly 
dentate above, usually obtuse at the apex ; upper ones lanceolate and entire, glaucous-looking 
underneath. Inflorescences usually much branched at maturity, lower branches shorter than the 
leaves, usually divaricate, with the partial inflorescences interrupted. Persistent perianth enveloping 
the fruit. Seeds rugose, more or less shining. 
Mr G. C. Druce (Dill. Herb. 58 (1907)) refers specimens in the herbarium of Dillenius, named Blitum folio subrofundo 
to C. album ; but the description in Ray Syn. ed. 3, p. 155 appears to be more applicable to C. opulifolium. 
Specimens doubtfully referred to C. album x opulifolium (see Brit. Bot. Exch. Club Report for 1906, p. 240) and collected 
in Lancashire are indistinguishable from C. opulifolium. 
Adventitious, from Cornwall and Kent northwards to Somerset, Buckinghamshire, Worcestershire, Hun- 
tingdonshire, and Lancashire. 
Germany, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, southern Europe ; northern Africa ; Abyssinia ; Asia 
Minor and central Asia. 
6. CHENOPODIUM FICIFOLIUM. Fig-leaved Goosefoot. Plate 161 
Blitum ficus folio Dillenius in Ray Syn. ed. 3, 155 (1724). 
Chenopodium ficifolium Smith FI. Brit. 276 (1800)!; Moquin in DC. Prodr. xiii, pt. ii, 65 (1845); 
Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 15 (1868); Rouy FI. France xii, 46 (1910); C. serotinum L. Cent. PI. ii, 12 (1756) pro 
minima parte (id est, syn. Raii) non herb.; Hudson FI. Angl. 91 (1762) partim (excl. diagn.) ; Suter FI. Helv. 
i, 177, et ii, 428 (1822); Moquin Clienopod. Monogr. Enum. 26 (1840) non in DC. Prodr . ; C. viride Curtis FI. 
Lond. i, no. 51, non auct. al. ; C. album var. ficifolium G. F. W. Meyer Chlor. Hanov. 465 (1836). 
leones: — Curtis FI. Lond. i, t. 51, as C. viride ; Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1724; Syme Eng. Bot. viii, t. 1191; FI. 
Dan. t. 2768 ; Beck in Reichenbach Icon, xxiv, t. 238. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 161. (a) Flowering shoot, (b) Lower leaves, (c) Flowers (enlarged), (d) Seeds. 
(e) Seed (enlarged). Cambridgeshire (A. F.). 
Exsiccata : — Wirtgen, xi, 625. 
Annual, mealy. Stem erect or decumbent, more or less branched, from 3 — 9 dm. high. 
Petioles about two-thirds as long as the 
laminae, rather slender. Laminae — lower 
ones 3-lobed ; lateral lobes narrowly oblong 
and cuneate below ; central lobe oblong, very 
coarsely dentate or subentire, obtuse at the 
apex, often purplish at the base, up to about 
7 cm. long. Inflorescences — axillary ones 
longer than the leaves, ascending, lax, more 
or less branched ; lower ones subtended by 
a nearly full-sized leaf, leafy towards the base ; 
upper ones subtended by a lanceolate leaf ; 
apical ones leafless. Perianth with segments 
with a narrow membranous margin. Seeds 
rugose, about o f 8 — 1 ’o mm. in diameter, black. 
We cannot follow some recent British authorities 
in naming this plant C. serotinum L. The Linnaean 
diagnosis does not allow of this. In our opinion, the 
only part of C. serotinum L. which includes the present 
plant is Ray’s synonym ; and this we think was included 
in error. Hudson simply adds other synonyms to that 
of Ray’s whilst retaining the Linnaean diagnosis which 
surely refers to some other species. The specimen in 
the Linnaean herbarium is not C. ficifolium : it is a young plant, scarcely determinable with certainty, obtained from the 
garden at Upsala from seeds sent by Sauvage or Gouan. 
Waste ground on damp, rich soil, and on manure heaps ; from Dorset and Kent north- 
wards to Somerset, Leicestershire, and Norfolk; Wales — Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire — 
perhaps adventitious only ; adventitious in Ireland and in the north of England. 
Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, southern Europe; 
northern Africa ; Asia. 
Map 32. C. ficifolium occurs in the counties which are shaded, 
and is adventitious in the counties marked with a “ ? ” 
