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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. | |||||||||
| HIANS GOOSEFOOT | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Chenopodium hians | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Hians goosefoot grows 40 to 80 cm tall from a taproot. The stem is coarsely mealy, grooved, and may be reddish-tinged. The leaves are alternate on stout stalks. The leaves are at least three times as long as wide and are largest towards the middle of the stem. The foliage three veins from the base and is mealy underneath and nearly hairless above. The flowers are in head-like clusters, then in branched inflorescences. The fruit is an achene. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Hians goosefoot grows in open, often over-grazed, alkaline grasslands and dry meadows. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant grows in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland and Cypress Upland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Hians goosefoot is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is rare and somewhat regionally restricted. Most local populations are small. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY HIANS GOOSEFOOT | |||||||||
| * Do the leaves have three or more veins from the
base? * Are the leaves longer than they are wide? * Is the fruit an achene? * Did you find in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found hians goosefoot! | |||||||||
