Chenopodium is agenus of numerous species ofperennial orannual herbaceousflowering plants known as thegoosefoot, which occur almost anywhere in the world.[3] It is placed in the familyAmaranthaceae in theAPG II system; older classification systems, notably the widely usedCronquist system, separate it and its relatives asChenopodiaceae,[4] but this leaves the rest of the Amaranthaceaepolyphyletic. However, among the Amaranthaceae, the genusChenopodium is the namesake member of the subfamilyChenopodioideae.[2]
The species ofChenopodium (s.str., description according to Fuentes et al. 2012)[2] areannual orperennialherbs,shrubs or smalltrees.[5] They generally rely onalkaline soil.[5] They arenonaromatic, but sometimes fetid (foul-smelling). The young stems and leaves are often densely covered by vesicular globose hairs, thus lookingfarinose. Characteristically, thesetrichomes persist, collapsing later and becoming cup-shaped.The branchedstems grow erect, ascending, prostrate or scrambling. Lateral branches are alternate (the lowermost ones can be nearly opposite). The alternate or oppositeleaves arepetiolate. Their thin or slightly fleshy leaf blade is linear,rhombic or triangular-hastate, withentire ordentate orlobed margins.[2]
In fruit, perianth segments become sometimes coloured, but mostly keep unchanged, somewhat closing over or spreading from the fruit. Thepericarp is membranous or sometimes succulent, adherent to or loosely covering the seed. The horizontally oriented seeds are depressed-globular to lenticular, with rounded to subacute margin. The black seed coat is almost smooth to finely striate, rugulose or pitted.[2]
The genusChenopodium was described byCarl Linnaeus in 1753 (In:Species Plantarum, Vol. 1, p. 218–222). Type species isChenopodium album. This generic name is derived from the particular shape of the leaf, which is similar to a goose's foot: fromGreek χήν (chen), "goose" and πούς (pous), "foot" orποδίον (podion), "little foot".
In its traditional circumscription,Chenopodium comprised about 170 species.[3] Phylogenetic research revealed, that the genus was highlypolyphyletic and did not reflect how species were naturally related. Therefore, a new classification was necessary. Mosyakin & Clemants (2002, 2008) separated the glandular species as genusDysphania (which includesepazote) andTeloxys in tribeDysphanieae. Fuentes-Bazan et al. (2012) separated many species to generaBlitum (in tribeAnserineae),Chenopodiastrum,Lipandra, andOxybasis (likeChenopodium in tribeAtripliceae). They includedRhagodia andEinadia inChenopodium.[2]
The genusChenopodium contains several plants of minor to moderate importance as food crops asleaf vegetables – used like the closely relatedspinach (Spinacia oleracea) and similar plants calledquelite inMexico – andpseudocereals.[citation needed] These includewhite goosefoot (C. album),kañiwa (C. pallidicaule) andquinoa (C. quinoa). On theGreek island ofCrete, tender shoots and leaves of a species calledkrouvida (κρουβίδα) orpsarovlito (ψαρόβλητο) are eaten by the locals, boiled or steamed.[citation needed] As studied byBruce D. Smith,Kristen Gremillion and others, goosefoots have a history of culinary use dating back to 4000 BC or earlier, whenpitseed goosefoot (C. berlandieri) was a staple crop in the Native AmericanEastern Agricultural Complex,[citation needed] and when white goosefoot was apparently used by theErtebølle culture ofEurope.[citation needed] Members of the eastern EuropeanYamnaya culture also harvested white goosefoot as an apparent cereal substitute to round out an otherwise mostly meat and dairy diet c.3500–2500BC.[7]
Goosefootpollen, in particular of the widespread and usually abundantC. album, is anallergen to many people and a common cause ofhay fever.[8] The same species, as well as some others, have seeds which are able to persist for years in thesoil seed bank.[citation needed] Many goosefoot species are thus significantweeds, and some have becomeinvasive species.[8]
In Australia, the largerChenopodium species are among the plants called "bluebushes".[citation needed] According to the 1889 bookThe Useful Native Plants of Australia,Chenopodium auricomum "is another of the salt-bushes, which, besides being invaluable food for stock, can be eaten by man. All plants of the Natural Order Chenopodiaceae (Salsolacese) are more or less useful in this respect." The book goes on to give the following account from theJournal de la Ferme et des Maisons de campagne:[9]
We have recently gathered an abundant harvest of leaves from two or three plants growing in our garden. These leaves were put into boiling water to blanch them, and they were then cooked as an ordinary dish of spinach, with this difference in favour of the new plant, that there was no occasion to take away the threads which are so disagreeable in chicory, sorrel, and ordinary spinach. We partook of this dish with relish—the flavour—analogous to spinach, had something in it more refined, less grassy in taste. The cultivation is easy: sow the seed in April (October) in a well-manured bed, for the plant is greedy; water it. The leaves may be gathered from the time the plant attains 50 centimetres (say 20 inches) in height. They grow up again quickly. In less than eight days afterwards another gathering may take place, and so on to the end of the year.
^abcdefghijkSusy Fuentes-Bazan, Pertti Uotila, Thomas Borsch:A novel phylogeny-based generic classification for Chenopodium sensu lato, and a tribal rearrangement of Chenopodioideae (Chenopodiaceae). In:Willdenowia. Vol. 42, No. 1, 2012, p. 5-24.
^abTaylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992].Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 64.ISBN0-87842-280-3.OCLC25708726.
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