Many-seed goosefoot |
Habit, flowers, fruits and leaf of the many-seed goosefoot
| Chenopodium polyspermum L., Syn. Lipandra polysperma (L.) S. Fuentes, Uotila & Borsch: | |
| Blooming period: | July–September |
| Height: | 10–80 cm |
| Flowers: | bisexual, radiate, small and inconspicuous, Ø approx. 1.5 mm, stamens: 1–3, styles: 2 |
| Tepals: | 5, fused at base, green |
| Stem leaves: | upper alternate, lower opposite, simple, stalked, ovate |
Plants annual, herbaceous, with slender taproot.
Stem prostrate to erect, branched from the base, green, often redish, 4-edged, glabrous, not floured white.
Leaves simple, entire, stalked, ovate, elliptical or elongated, blunt, rounded or conical at the base, green, dull, not floured white.
Flowers small, inconspicuous, green, not white floured, stalked very short. They are arranged in dense clusters in the leaf axils and at the end of the stem. Flowers not divided in calyx and corolla (Perigon).
Tepals 5, elliptic to oblong, fused at the base, blunt, on the bottom not keeled.
After self- or wind pollination develops from the superior ovary a round, dark red to black, lenticular, nut-like fruit, which is not entirely covered by the tepals.
| Floral formula: |
| * P(5) A1–3 G(2) superior |
Occurrence:
Fields,
roadsides, ruderal areas, gardens, fallows, banks. It prefers slightly
moist and very nutritious soils.
Distribution:
Temperate
Europe and western Asia, introduced in some areas of North America.