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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. | |||||||||
| SHRUBBY SEEPWEED | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Suaeda moquinii | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Shrubby seepweed grows 20 to 70 cm tall from a thick taproot and woody base. The stem is tufted and branched. The leaves are alternate, stalkless and fleshy. In flower, the sepal lobes are equal. The fruits are black. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Shrubby seepweed grows on dry, barren rock outcrops. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant grows in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Shrubby seepweed is endangered in Saskatchewan because it is extremely rare and is highly regionally restricted. This species is almost always locally sparse and is threatened by human developments. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY SHRUBBY SEEPWEED | |||||||||
| * Are the base of the stem and the root thick and
woody? * Is the stem branched? * Are the sepal lobes equal? * Did you find in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have shrubby seepweed! | |||||||||
