Leaf blades deltate or rhombic, 1.7-4 cm, 3-lobed, margins usually toothed above basal lobes. Inflorescences erect, with leafy bracts. Styles with yellow area at base. Seeds 1.2-1.5 mm diam.

Fruiting fall. Yards, flower beds, highways, oceanic bluffs, sandy washes; 0-2200 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.W.T., Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Fla., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Mass., Minn., Mo., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., S.C., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

Annual herb 10 cm - 1 m tall

Stem: white-mealy to a varying degree.

Leaves: alternate, stalked, 1.7 - 4 cm long, diamond-shaped or triangular, three-lobed, toothed above basal lobes, white-mealy to a varying degree.

Inflorescence: a dense, irregularly rounded cluster of flowers (glomerule), which together form an upright spike with leafy bracts.

Flowers: greenish, small, with five nearly distinct sepals and no petals. Sepals broadly wing-keeled, white-mealy. Stamens five. Styles with yellow at the base. Stigmas two.

Fruit: one-seeded (achene or utricle), sometimes enclosed in the persistent, incurved sepals, light yellowish around style, depressed egg-shaped, thin-walled. Wall (pericarp) not closely fitting to the seed, honeycomb-like. Seed brown, 1 - 1.5 mm wide, round, round-margined, honeycomb-like.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: late June to mid-October

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe. A weed of cultivated and waste ground.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Chenopodium comes from the Greek words chen, meaning goose, and podion, meaning "little foot," referring to the leaf shape of some species. Berlandieri is named after Jean Louis Berlandier (1805-1851), the botanist who discovered the species.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

This species and the following [Chenopodium bushianum] are characterized by the peculiar alveolar depressions of their seeds, distinguishing them well from other species. The whole group however is quite polymorphic.

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 0

Wetland Indicator Status: