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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE GOOSEFOOT FAMILY | |||||||||
| The goosefoots are found in a wide variety of habitats around the world, but are especially common in dry or saline soil. Many species are considered weedy or invasive. This family contains over 1,150 fleshy herbs and shrubs. Some species may have kranz venation. This means that if you scrape the leaf with a sharp object you will see a dark network of veins if you look under a microscope at 10X magnification. This character is often used in the identification of plants in this family. The flowers are very small and are found in dense clusters in the leaf axils or at the ends or branches. The sepals and petals are not easily distinguishable, so they may be referred to as the perianth or as tepals. The flowers have five distinct stamens. There is a wide range of physical variation within species. | |||||||||
| DARK GOOSEFOOT | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Chenopodium atrovirens | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Dark goosefoot grows 25 to 60 cm tall from a taproot. The stems are usually solitary and branched. The leaves are alternate on short stalks. The leaves are approximately two to three times as long as wide and are linear to lance-shaped. There are three or more veins beginning at the base of the leaves. The leaves are nearly hairless above and the margin is entire or with basal lobes. The flowers are in head-like clusters that are arranged in a branched inflorescence. The fruit is one-seeded and bladdery-inflated. The seeds are horizontal and are dark, shiny, and slightly wrinkled. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Dark goosefoot grows in open, sometimes disturbed areas. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant grows in western Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland and Aspen Parkland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Dark goosefoot is endangered in Saskatchewan because it is extremely rare and regionally restricted. Some populations are threatened by human development. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY DARK GOOSEFOOT | |||||||||
| * Do the leaves have three or more veins from the
base? * Are the leaves linear to lance-shaped? * Is the fruit one-seeded and bladdery-inflated? * Did you find in western Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have dark goosefoot! | |||||||||
