Dysphania pumilio (R. Br.) Mosyakin & Clemants (redirected from: Chenopodium pumilio)
Family: Amaranthaceae
[Chenopodium carinatum R. Br.,  more...]
Dysphania pumilio image
Hermann Falkner  

Stems prostrate to suberect, much-branched to ± simple, 0.1-4.5 dm, pilose with segmented (uniseriate) hairs and sessile or stipitate glandular hairs. Leaves malodorous; petiole 0.3-1.5 cm; blade narrowly to broadly elliptic to ovate, 0.5-2.7 × 0.3-1.5 cm, somewhat reduced in inflorescence, base cuneate, apex obtuse, glandular-pilose. Inflorescences lateral cymes or glomerules; glomerules subglobose, 1.2-2.5 mm diam.; bracts leaflike, 3-4.5 mm, elliptic, margins crenate-dentate, apex obtuse. Flowers: perianth segments 5, distinct nearly to base, distinct portions narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong, 0.6-0.7 × 0.2-0.3 mm, apex acute, normally rounded abaxially, usually glandular-pilosulose, becoming crustaceous and white in fruit; stamens absent or 1; stigmas 2. Achenes ovoid; pericarp adherent, membranaceous, slightly rugose. Seeds reddish brown, ovoid, 0.5-0.7 × 0.5-0.6 mm, margins keeled or rounded; seed coat smooth.

Fruiting late summer-fall. Waste areas on rocky, sandy, or gravelly soils, sidewalks, rare in moist soils in forests; 0-1200 m; introduced; Ark., Calif., Conn., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Kans., Ky., La., Mass., Mo., Nev., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., Wash., Wis.; Australia; introduced in subtropical and warm-temperate regions.

This species has gone under the misapplied name Chenopodium carinatum R. Brown (now 9. Dysphania carinata).

Annual; stems spreading or prostrate, 2-4 dm; lvs densely beset with large yellow glands beneath, oblong or lanceolate, 1-3 cm with 2-4 coarse teeth per side; glomerules small, aggregated into small axillary spikes to 10 mm; cal deeply 5 cleft, beset with large yellow glands; seeds erect, 0.5-0.6 mm wide, lenticular with a raised margin; 2n=16. Native of Australia, naturalized in waste places in our range. (C. carinatum)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Dysphania pumilio image
Hermann Falkner  
Dysphania pumilio image
Hermann Falkner  
Dysphania pumilio image
Hermann Falkner  
Dysphania pumilio image
Hermann Falkner