Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Pinyon Goosefoot
Chenopodium atrovirens
Atriplex/Chenopodium family (Amaranthaceae)

Pinyon Goosefoot (Chenopodium atrovirens) grows from just two inches to two or three feet tall. Flowers are 1/16 inch, minute but are numerous in tight clusters. The flattened spherical is enclosed in five , each of which is and often dotted with microscopic white-to-pink grains.

Linnaeus named this in 1753 and Per Axel Rydberg named this species in 1900. Greek gives us both "chen" for a goose and "opus" for foot. (The "chi" in Chenopodium is pronounced as the "k" in "key": key-no-poh-Dee-um.) "Atrovirens" means "dark green."


©2007 Al Schneider

Description

plants, stems 4-36" tall, erect, usually much branched, . Leaves to just over 21" long, , to , seldomly over 2/3 the length of the leaf , margins , . very dense . deeply . a .

Field Marks

Green or red-stemmed plant with numerous spherical clusters of tiny green flowers in elongated .

© Al Schneider

A spike is an unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence in which the flowers are without stalks.

An entire leaf has smooth edges. Not toothed or lobed.

perianth -- the non-reproductive part of the flower such as petals and sepals.

lobe -- Being divided by clefts.

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem.

glabrate -- Almost smooth and glossy or becoming smooth and glossy with age.

An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seed, within one year, and then dies.

ovate -- Oval, egg-shaped, with a tapering point.

Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

In a pea flower the two bottom petals are fused together forming a boat-like structure called the keel. The glumes of grasses may have a sharp projecting ridge like the keel of a boat.

petiole -- the stalk of a leaf.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

blade -- Just the flat part of a leaf. Not the stem.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.