Chenopodium

Chenopodium 

(goosefoot), a genus of plants of the family Chenopodiaceae. They are annual or biennial herbs; they are sometimes subshrubs, shrubs, or, rarely, trees. The leaves are alternate. The flowers are mostly bisexual; sometimes there are some pistillate ones. The flowers are gathered into glomerules that form spicate or paniculate inflorescences. The perianth is two- to five-parted. The fruit is monospermous.

There are over 200 species of Chenopodium, distributed primarily in the temperate zone. Approximately 30 species, many of them weeds, are found in the USSR. Lamb’s-quarter (Chenopodium album), a weed used as cattle feed, is widely distributed. The leaves and young shoots of lamb’s-quarter and other species are used in salads and soups. The succulent red glomerules of strawberry goosefoot (C. foliosum) and strawberry blite (C. capitatum) are sometimes used as food and for coloring wine. Sowbane (C. hybridum) is poisonous to hogs. The species C. anthelminticum and Mexican tea (C ambrosioides) which are native to tropical America, are cultivated in the Ukraine and the Caucasus; they contain, primarily in the fruits, chenopodium oil, which is used as an anthelminthic. Quinoa (C. quinoa) is a high-altitude grain crop, raised mainly in Peru and Chile. The species C. purpurascens is cultivated as an ornamental.

REFERENCES

Kott, S. A. Sornye rasteniia i bor’ba s nimi, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1961.
Atlas lekarstvennykh rastenii SSSR. Moscow, 1962.

T. V. EGOROVA