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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. | |||||||||
| SMOOTH GOOSEFOOT | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Chenopodium subglabrum | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Smooth goosefoot grows 10 to 50 cm tall from a slender taproot. The stem is erect or nearly so and may be simple or branched. The stem and leaves are almost hairless and are alternate and stalked. The linear leaves are somewhat fleshy and are 1-veined from the base. The flowers are in small, widely spaced, head-like clusters which are then arranged in branched inflorescences. The fruits are achenes and the sepals largely cover the fruit in maturity. The black, smooth seeds are horizontal. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Smooth goosefoot grows in active to stabilized sand dune blowouts. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant grows in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland and Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| 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. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY SMOOTH GOOSEFOOT | |||||||||
| * Do the leaves have one vein from the base? * Are the leaves and stems nearly hairless? * Is the fruit an achene? * Did you find in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found smooth goosefoot! | |||||||||
