Chenopodium

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Chenopodium

"Goosefoot" redirects here. The unrelated Smearwort
Smearwort

Smearwort , also known as Round-leaved Birthwort, English Mercury, Mercury Goosefoot, Allgood, Tola Bona or "Fat Hen", is a perennial plant herb....
(Aristolochia rotunda) is sometimes called "Mercury Goosefoot".

Chenopodium is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of about 150 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of perennial or annual
Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates flowers and dies in one year. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed....
herbaceous
Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaf and stem that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. A herbaceous plant may be Annual plant, Biennial plant or Perennial plant....
flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae

The flowering plant family Amaranthaceae, the Amaranth family, contains about 160 genera and 2,400 species. Most of these species are herbs or shrubs; very few are trees or climbers....
in the APG II system
APG II system

A modern list of systems of plant taxonomy, the APG II system of plant classification was published in 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, APG, in...
; older classifications separate it and its relatives as Chenopodiaceae
Chenopodiaceae

Chenopodiaceae is a family of flowering plants. Although widely recognized in most plant classifications , the APG system and the APG II system have included these plants in the family Amaranthaceae on the basis of evidence from molecular phylogenies....
but this leaves the rest of the Amaranthaceae polyphyletic.

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Encyclopedia

"Goosefoot" redirects here. The unrelated Smearwort
Smearwort

Smearwort , also known as Round-leaved Birthwort, English Mercury, Mercury Goosefoot, Allgood, Tola Bona or "Fat Hen", is a perennial plant herb....
(Aristolochia rotunda) is sometimes called "Mercury Goosefoot".

Chenopodium is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of about 150 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of perennial or annual
Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates flowers and dies in one year. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed....
herbaceous
Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaf and stem that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. A herbaceous plant may be Annual plant, Biennial plant or Perennial plant....
flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae

The flowering plant family Amaranthaceae, the Amaranth family, contains about 160 genera and 2,400 species. Most of these species are herbs or shrubs; very few are trees or climbers....
in the APG II system
APG II system

A modern list of systems of plant taxonomy, the APG II system of plant classification was published in 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, APG, in...
; older classifications separate it and its relatives as Chenopodiaceae
Chenopodiaceae

Chenopodiaceae is a family of flowering plants. Although widely recognized in most plant classifications , the APG system and the APG II system have included these plants in the family Amaranthaceae on the basis of evidence from molecular phylogenies....
but this leaves the rest of the Amaranthaceae polyphyletic. However, among the Amaranthaceae the genus Chenopodium is the namesake member of the subfamily Chenopodioideae
Chenopodioideae

The Chenopodioideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Amaranthaceae, formerly treated as a distinct family, Chenopodiaceae, and comprising all of the genera formerly included in this family except for those transferred to the subfamilies Salicornioideae and Salsoloideae....
. The genus Dysphania is closely related and contains several species formerly placed in Chenopodium, such as Epazote
Epazote

Epazote, Wormseed, Jesuit's Tea, Mexican Tea, or Herba Sancti Mari? is a herb native to Central America, South America, and southern Mexico....
(D. ambrosioides).

In Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, the larger Chenopodium species are among the plants called "bluebush
Bluebush

Bluebush can refer to:...
es". Chualar
Chualar, California

Chualar is a census-designated place in Monterey County, California, California, United States. The population was 1,444 at the 2000 census....
in California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
is named after a Native American
Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
term for a goosefoot abundant in the region, probably the California Goosefoot (C. californicum).

Uses and ecology
(C. capitatum) leaves are edible, as are the red inflorescence
Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
s – though they look like fruit, they actually taste like spinach
Spinach

Spinach is a flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm....
]] (C. quinoa) seeds]] The genus Chenopodium contains several plants of minor to moderate importance as food
Food

Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
crops as leaf vegetable
Leaf vegetable

Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, greens, or leafy greens, are plant leaf eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender Petiole s and shoots....
s – used like the closely related Spinach
Spinach

Spinach is a flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm....
(Spinacia oleracea) and like similar plants called quelite
Quelite

Quelite can mean any of a number of different plants eaten in Mexico for their leaf, as leaf vegetables or herbs, including but not limited to:...
in Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
– and pseudocereal
Pseudocereal

Pseudocereals are broadleaf plants that are used in much the same way as cereals . Their seed can be ground into flour and otherwise used as cereals....
s. These include White Goosefoot (C. album), Good King Henry
Good King Henry

Good King Henry , also called Poor-man's Asparagus, Perennial Goosefoot, Lincolnshire Spinach or Markery is a species of goosefoot which is native to much of central and southern Europe....
(C. bonus-henricus), Strawberry Blite (C. capitatum), Leafy Goosefoot (C. foliosum), Kañiwa
Kañiwa

Ka?iwa is a species of goosefoot, similar in character and uses to the closely related quinoa. It has important beneficial characteristics including: tolerance of high mountain conditions, high protein content, and a lack of the saponins which complicate quinoa use....
(C. pallidicaule) and Quinoa
Quinoa

Quinoa is a species of goosefoot grown as a agriculture primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal as it is not a Poaceae....
(C. quinoa). As studied by Kristen Gremillion
Kristen gremillion

Kristen Gremillion is an American anthropologist whose areas of specialization include paleoethnobotany, origins of agriculture, the prehistory of eastern North America, human paleoecology and paleodiet, and the evolutionary theory....
and others, goosefoots have a history of culinary use dating back to 4000 BC or earlier, when Pitseed Goosefoot (C. berlandieri) was a staple crop in the Native American Eastern Agricultural Complex
Eastern Agricultural Complex

Eastern Agricultural Complex was a group of plants that originally formed the basis of agriculture in eastern North America north of Mexico. These plants included squash , little barley , goosefoot or lambsquarter , erect knotweed , maygrass sumpweed or marshelder , and sunflower ....
and White Goosefoot was apparently used by the Ertebølle culture
Ertebølle culture

The Erteb?lle culture is the name of a hunter-gatherer and fisher archaeological culture dating to the end of the Mesolithic period. The culture was concentrated in Southern Scandinavia, but genetically linked to strongly related cultures in Northern Germany and the Northern Netherlands....
of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
.

There is increased interest in particular in goosefoot seeds today, which are suitable as part of a gluten-free diet
Gluten-free diet

A gluten-free diet is recommended amongst other things in the treatment of celiac disease and wheat allergy. It is a diet completely free of ingredients derived from gluten-containing cereals: wheat , barley, rye, and triticale, as well as the use of gluten as a food additive in the form of a flavoring, stabilizing or thickening agent....
. Quinoa oil
Quinoa oil

Quinoa oil is extracted from germ of the Chenopodium quinoa, an Andes cereal. Quinoa itself has attracted considerable interest as a source of protein, but the oil derived from quinoa is of interest in its own right....
, extracted from the seeds of C. quinoa, has similar properties but is superior in quality to corn oil
Corn oil

Corn oil is oil extracted from the cereal germ of corn . Its main use is in cooking, where its high smoke point makes refined corn oil a valuable frying oil....
. "Oil of chenopodium" is extracted from the seeds of Epazote, which is not in this genus anymore. Shagreen
Shagreen

Shagreen is a type of roughened untanned leather, formerly made from a horse's back, or that of an onager , and typically dyed green. Shagreen is now commonly made of the skins of sharks and Batoidea....
leather was produced in former times using the small hard goosefoot seeds. C. album was one of the main model organism
Model organism

A model organism is a species that is extensively studied to understand particular biology phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into the workings of other organisms....
s for the molecular biological study of chlorophyllase
Chlorophyllase

Chlorophyllase is the key enzyme in chlorophyll metabolism. It is a membrane protein that is commonly known as Chlase and systematically known as chlorophyll chlorophyllidohydrolase....
.

Goosefoot pollen
Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
, in particular of the widespread and usually abundant C. album, is an allergen
Allergen

An allergen is a parasite antigen capable of stimulating a type-I hypersensitivity reaction in atopy individuals.Most humans mount significant Immunoglobulin E responses only as a defense against parasitic infections....
to many people and not uncommonly a cause of hay fever
Hay Fever

Hay Fever is a comic play written by No?l Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish b...
. The same species as well as some others have seeds which are able to persist for years in the soil seed bank
Soil Seed Bank

The soil seed bank is the collective name for the store of seeds, often dormant, which are stored within the soil of many terrestrial ecosystems....
. Many goosefoot species are thus significant weed
WEED

WEED is a radio station broadcasting a Gospel format. Licensed to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA, it serves the area. The station is currently owned by Northstar Broadcasting Corporation....
s, and some have become invasive species
Invasive species

Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions. The first definition expresses the phrase in terms of non-indigenous species that adversely affect the habitats they invade economically, environmentally or ecologically....
.

Certain species grow in large thicket
Thicket

A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large amounts of highly viable seeds that are able to germination in the shelter of the maternal plants....
s, providing cover for small animals. Goosefoot foliage is used as food by the caterpillar
Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly phytophagous in food habit, with some species being entomophagous....
e of certain Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
; see list of Lepidoptera that feed on Chenopodium. The seeds are eaten by many bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s, such as the Yellowhammer
Yellowhammer

For the American woodpecker or Alabama state troops, see Yellowhammer The Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, which breeds across Europe and much of Asia....
(Emberiza citrinella) of Europe or the White-winged Fairy-wren
White-winged Fairy-wren

The White-winged Fairy-wren is a species of passerine bird in the fairy-wren family Maluridae. It lives in the drier parts of central Australia; from central Queensland and South Australia across to Western Australia....
(Malurus leucopterus) of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
. Goosefoot pathogens include the Positive-sense ssRNA viri Apple stem grooving virus
Apple stem grooving virus

Apple stem grooving virus is a plant pathogenic virus of the family Flexiviridae.External links*...
, Sowbane mosaic virus
Sowbane mosaic virus

Sowbane mosaic virus is a plant pathogenic virus.External links*...
and Tobacco necrosis virus
Tobacco necrosis virus

Tobacco necrosis virus is a plant pathogenic virus of the family Tombusviridae.External links*...
.

Selected species
]] (Chenopodium glaucum)]] (Chenopodium urbicum)
Right: Maple-leaved Goosefoot (Chenopodium hybridum)]] (Chenopodium oahuense)]]

Formerly placed here:
Dysphania
Rhagodia baccata
Rhagodia baccata

Rhagodia baccata, commonly known as Berry Saltbush, is a species of shrub endemic to Western Australia....
, Berry Saltbush (as C. baccatum)
Suaeda australis
Suaeda australis

'Suaeda australis' is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae, native to Australia. It grows to between 0.1 and 0.9 metres in height, with a speading habit and branching occurring from the base....
, Austral Seablite (as C. australe, C. insulare)