Chenopodium album L.

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Photo: Bart Wursten
Marydale Point Lake Chivero Recreational Park

Photo: Mark Hyde
Harare Gardens

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Synonyms:	Chenopodium strictum Roth
Common names:	Fat hen (English) White goosefoot (English) Wild spinach (English)
Frequency:
Status:	Introduced
Description:	Erect often much branched annual herb, up to 150 cm high. Stems often tinged red or pink, grey mealy hairy especially on younger parts. Leaves very variable, even on the same plant, generally rhombic-ovate to lanceolate, 1-8.5 cm long, somewhat grey-green, paler below; margin sometimes entire but mostly with up to 10 shallow teeth, the lowermost sometimes larger and lobe-like. Inflorescences large, dense heads of small rounded clusters or 'glomerules', containing minute grey-green flowers, covered in grey mealy hairs.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:	album: white
Habitat:
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	Cosmopolitan, probably native to the Northern hemisphere.
Botswana distribution:	SE
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Literature:	Brenan, J.P.M. (1988). Chenopodiaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(1) Pages 134 - 137. (Includes a picture). Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 35. also as C. strictum and both under Chenopodiaceae Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 46. Wild, H. (1955). Common Rhodesian Weeds Government of Rhodesia, Salisbury Page 20. (Includes a picture).

Other sources of information about Chenopodium album:

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Flora of Mozambique: Chenopodium album
Flora of Zambia: Chenopodium album
Flora of Zimbabwe: Chenopodium album

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Chenopodium album
African Plant Database: Chenopodium album
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Chenopodium album
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Chenopodium album
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Chenopodium album
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Chenopodium album
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Chenopodium album
JSTOR Plant Science: Chenopodium album
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Chenopodium album
Plants of the World Online: Chenopodium album
Tropicos: Chenopodium album
Wikipedia: Chenopodium album