Chenopodium berlandieri Moq.

by Beth Hickey, Native Plants of Arizona 2005
Common names: Pitseed goosefoot (1), common lambs-quarter, quelite salado, ashceni, huauzontle, chual, cual (7), pigweed (8)
Family: Chenopodiaceae (1, 2)
Synonymy:
Etymology: Chenopodium means goosefoot and refers to the shape of the leaves (6), berlandieri honors J. L. Berlandier a Belgium botanist who explored Texas and New Mexico (12)

Identification
Growth form: erect to ascending herb
Stems: many branched or simple, branches are farinose (11), turn red in autumn due to beet pigments (6), 18-15 cm (13)
Leaves: simple, stalked; blades narrow or broadly lanceolate, rhombic, ovate or triangular, 1.2-12 cm long by 0.5-7.5 cm wide, margins can be serrate, irregularly dentate or entire and sometimes exhibit two basal lobes, tip acute, base truncate, farinose (11)
Inflorescence/flowers: flowers densely clustered in compound spikes, 5-17 cm tall and irregularly rounded with a diameter of 4-7 mm, no bracts; flowers with 5 perianth segments, lobes are ovate to deltate, apex obtuse, farinose, may or may not cover mature fruit, often notably keeled, 5 stamens, 2 stigmas (11)
Fruit: one seeded achene; ovoid, pericarp adheres most of the time, seeds are round with rounded margins and brown or black shiny seed coats, 1-2 mm in diameter, exhibit honeycomb-like pitting and wrinkling (6, 11)
Similar species: sometimes confused with the non-native Chenopodium album L., according to Eberling, C. berlandieri has a stonger odor than C. album as well as more slender leaf spikes, dentate not lobed leaves, sharply keeled calyx lobes and puncticulate seeds that are 1-1.3 mm in diameter (8); the Flora of North America, however, give these characteristics to C. album which may prove more useful - leaf blade can be broad, lanceolate-rhombic to lanceolate-ovate, 1-5.5 cm long by 0.5-3.8 cm wide, margins can be thinly serrate, sinuous dentate, or entire, base is wedge shaped, tip is acute, abaxially farinose; the inflorescence is densely clustered in terminal or lateral compound spikes, 2-19 cm tall and 4-7 mm in diameter, sometimes in 1-flowered peduncles; and ovoid, pericarp mostly non-adherent, smooth to papillate; seeds are lenticular with rounded margins and smooth black seed coats, 0.9-1.6 mm in diameter, exhibit some indistinct granulate or radial grooving or ridging (11)

Ecology
Life history: erect annual herb (1, 11)
Native/Introduced: native to North America
Photosynthetic pathway: C3 (14)
Phenology: June to October (13)
Distribution: grows throughout the United States from Virginia to Florida, west to Washington, Oregon, and California, south to Mexico (3), and north into Alaska (1); found throughout Arizona in Apache, Gila, Yavapai, Cochise, Pinal, Gila, Navajo, Graham, La Paz, Mohave, Santa Cruz, Pima, Coconino, Maricopa (2), up to 7,000 ft (possibly 9,500 ft.) (6) in open, disturbed areas (15)

Uses
Important and nutritious food source and have been widely eaten since prehistory by many tribes throughout North America (4, 5, 6, 7, 9). Contains large amounts of calcium (258 mg per 100 grams) and Vitamin A (9,700 I.U. when cooked and drained) and compare in nutritive value to approximately one cup of milk or one serving of spinach (7), also contains riboflavin, Vitamin C, and protein (6). Young foliage can be gathered, consumed raw (8) boiled and eaten alone or combined with other foods (4, 7, 8). Used by the Hopi to wrap Yucca angustissima fruits before baking in earth ovens (4). Seeds can be parched then ground into flour (7). It is also believed that the form of Chenopodium common in the prehistoric eastern United States prior to the introduction of maize agriculture is a domesticated variety of C. berlandieri (9, 10).

References:

1. USDA, NRCS. 2005. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 ( http://plants.usda.gov ). Data compiled from various sources by Mark W. Skinner. National Plant Data Center , Baton Rouge , LA 70874-4490 USA .

2. Retrieved [ November 22, 2005 ], from the Southwest Environmental Information Network on-line database, http://seinet.asu.edu/collections/

3. Kearney , T. H., R.H. Peebles, and collaborators. 1960. Arizona Flora 2 nd Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles .

4. Whiting, A. F. 1939. Ethnobotany of the Hopi . Museum of Northern Arizona , Bulletin no. 15. Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, Flagstaff .

5. Elmore, F. H. 1944. Ethnobotany of the Navajo . The University of New Mexico Bulletin, Vol. 1, no. 7. The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

6. Hogan, P., K. Huisinga, K. Kampe. 2005. An Annontated Catalog of the Native and Naturalized Flora of Arizona . Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association, Flagstaff .

7. Hodgson, W. H. 2001. Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert . University of Arizona Press, Tucson .

8. Eberling, W. 1986. Handbook of Indian Foods and Fibers of Arid America . University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles .

9. Sauer, J. D. 1993. Historical Geography of Crop Plants: A Select Roster . CRC Press, Boca Raton , Florida .

10. Smith, B. D. 1992. Rivers of Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C.

11. Retrieved [ November 22, 2005 ], from the Flora of North America on-line database, www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242415441

12. Stearns, W. T. 1992. Stearns Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners . Cassell Publishers, Ltd., London .

13. Baldwin, B. C., T. Boyd, E. J. Ertter, R. W. Patterson, T. J. Rosatti, D. H. Wilken, M. Wetherwax. 2002. The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California .

14. Retrieved [ December 9, 2005 ], from the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Project on-line database, http://sevilleta.unm.edu/data/species/plant/checklist/

15. 13. Baldwin , B. C., T. Boyd, E. J. Ertter, R. W. Patterson, T. J. Rosatti, D. H. Wilken, M. Wetherwax. 2002. The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California . University of California Press, Berekley and Los Angeles .