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| Chenopodium subglabrum
(S. Wats.) A. Nels. |
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| TAXONOMY |
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| Family: |
Chenopodiaceae |
| Genus: |
Chenopodium |
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| Species Synonyms: |
Chenopodium leptophyllum var. subglabrum
S. Wats. |
| Common Names: |
smooth goosefoot
smooth arid goosefoot |
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| DISTRIBUTION |
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| Canada: |
southern Alberta – southwestern Saskatchewan
– southwestern Manitoba |
| Saskatchewan: |
southwestern Saskatchewan; South Saskatchewan
River - Elbow Sandhills – Bridgeford |
| Ecoregion: |
Mixed Grassland, Moist Mixed Grassland |
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| HABITAT |
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| Saskatchewan: |
active to stabilized sand dune
blowouts |
| Associated species: |
beaked annual skeletonweed,
Canada wildrye, creeping juniper, dune scurfpea, Indian ricegrass, narrowleaf
willow, prairie sandreed, prairie sunflower, rush skeletonweed |
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| RARITY STATUS |
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Provincial
Status According
to Harms (2003): |
Threatened |
| Nature Conservancy
Status: |
G3G4 N2 |
Saskatchewan
Species at
Risk Status: |
Vulnerable |
| COSEWIC Status:
|
Special Concern |
| |
| Smooth goosefoot
is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is rare or uncommon and is regionally
restricted. In addition, this species is almost always locally sparse. Smooth
goosefoot grows in a fragile sand dune habitat. |
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| SPECIES
DESCRIPTION |
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| Height: |
10 – 50 (80) cm |
| Roots: |
taproot slender |
| Stems: |
annual, erect or semi-erect, solitary or branched,
branches ascending, hairless |
| Leaves: |
alternate, stalked, 1 – 5 cm long, 1 –
4 mm wide, linear, 1-veined, somewhat fleshy, light green, essentially hairless |
| Inflorescence: |
small, widely-spaced head-like clusters in open,
leafy terminal and axillary, branched inflorescences |
| Flowers: |
sepals 5, hairless; petals absent; stamens 5;
stigmas 2 |
| Fruits: |
single-seeded; sepal lobes largely covering fruit
at maturity; pericarp non-adherent; seeds horizontal, black, smooth, shining |
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| CHENOPODIUM
KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN |
| |
| 1 Flowers in spherical heads (then
in spikes); sepals fleshy and bright red in fruit, appearing berry-like
|
C. capitatum |
| 1 Flowers in head-like clusters (then
in spikes); sepals not fleshy and bright red in fruit, not appearing berry-like
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2 |
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2 Sepals 3; fruits vertical and occasionally
horizontal in the same inflorescence
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3 |
| 2 Sepals 5; fruits horizontal |
4 |
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| 3 Leaves densely white mealy beneath,
2 – 3 cm long; sepals greenish; plants of saline soil |
C. glaucum var. salinum |
| 3 Leaves hairless or nearly so beneath,
3 – 10 cm long; sepals becoming reddish with age; plants of lakeshores
and dried sloughs |
C. rubrum |
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| 4 Leaves with one vein from base |
5 |
| 4 Leaves with three or more veins
from base |
6 |
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| 5 Plants nearly hairless; pericarp
easily separated from seed |
C. subglabrum |
| 5 Plants mealy; pericarp attached
to seed |
C. leptophyllum |
| |
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| 6 Leaves linear to narrowly lance-shaped,
1 – 5 times longer than wide, < 1.5 cm wide |
7 |
| 6 Leaves diamond-shaped to broadly
lance-shaped, 1 – 3 times longer than wide, usually > 1.5 cm wide
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11 |
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| 7 Sepal lobes covering seed at maturity
|
C. dessicatum |
| 7 Sepal lobes not covering seed at
maturity |
8 |
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| 8 Fruit achene, pericarp attached
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9 |
| 8 Fruit utricle, pericarp separable
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10 |
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| 9 Leaves three times longer than broad
or longer, elliptic to narrowly lance-shaped |
C. hians |
| 9 Leaves 2 – 3 times longer
than broad or less, narrowly oblong to diamond-shaped |
C. strictum var. glaucum |
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| 10 Primary leaves with one or two
lobes or teeth above base; plants erect |
C. pratericola |
| 10 Primary leaves entire or with basal
lobes; plants open and branched |
C. atrovirens |
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| 11 Leaves bright green, square to
heart-shaped at base; seeds larger than 1.5 mm |
C. simplex |
| 11 Leaves light green, at least below,
not square or heart-shaped at base; seeds smaller than 1.5 mm |
12 |
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| 12 Fruits appearing honey-combed on
surface |
13 |
| 12 Fruits appearing smooth on surface
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14 |
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| 13 Pericarp white at maturity; odour
of dead fish |
C. watsonii |
| 13 Pericarp translucent at maturity;
no odour of dead fish |
C. berlandieri |
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| 14 Lower leaves toothed above base,
never entire or with only basal lobes or teeth |
C. album |
| 14 Lower leaves entire above base,
may have 1 or 2 lobes or teeth at base |
15 |
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| 15 Sepals covering fruit at maturity;
fruits approximately 1 mm; plants usually less than 50 cm tall; densely
mealy throughout |
C. incanum |
| 15 Sepals not covering fruit at maturity;
fruits slightly larger than 1 mm (to 1.5 mm); plants commonly over 50 cm
tall at full maturity; mealy on upper surface of leaves and in inflorescence |
C. fremontii var. fremontii |
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