HOARY GOOSEFOOT
|
 |
| File Size: 148 KB |
|
|
|
Chenopodium incanum (S. Wats. ) A. Heller
|
| Grant County, Kansas (Marion McGlohon photo) |
| Annual |
| Height: 2-32 inches |
| Family: Amaranthaceae - Amaranth Family |
| Flowering Period: July, August, September |
|
| Stems: | | Spreading to erect, simple or branched from base, covered with a mealy powder. | | Leaves: | | Cauline, alternate; petiole .2 to .4 inch; blade broadly triangular to ovate, .4 to 1 inch long, .2 to .6 inch wide, 3-veined from base, base cuneate to truncate, margins usually with 2 basal teeth, apex obtuse to acute, surfaces covered with a mealy powder. | | Inflorescences: | | Small, dense, head-like clusters of minute flowers in terminal and axillary panicles. | | Flowers: | | Tepals 5, distinct nearly to base, lobes ovate, ca. .04 inch, sometimes keeled along midvein at maturity, completely covering fruit at maturity; stamens 5; styles 2; stigmas 2. | | Fruits: | | Utricles, ovoid; pericarp nonadherent, smooth. Seeds black, lenticular, .04 to .05 inch wide. | | Habitat: | | Shortgrass prairies | | Distribution: | | Principally the west half of Kansas | | Origin: | | Native | | Uses: | | Native Americans in the Southwest cooked the young sprouts and leaves as greens and ground the seeds for food (Moerman 1998). | | Comments: | | Chenopodium incanum apparently once was widespread in the western third of Kansas. However, of 34 counties where it has been documented, collections from 19 counties were made prior to 1900. Kansas plants belong to var. incanum. |
|
| Hoary goosefoot |  | | 163 KB | | Grant County, Kansas (Marion McGlohon photo) |
| | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
