Chenopodium hians
Encyclopedia
Chenopodium hians is a species of flowering plant in the amaranth family
Amaranthaceae
The flowering plant family Amaranthaceae, the Amaranth family, contains about 176 genera and 2,400 species.- Description :Most of these species are herbs or subshrubs; very few are trees or climbers. Some species are succulent....

 known by the common names hians goosefoot and gaping goosefoot. The Latin species name
Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...

 hians means "gaping".

It is native to much of the western half of North America from British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, where it grows in many types of open habitat, moist and dry, including disturbed areas such as roadsides.

Description

This is an annual herb growing an erect, branching stem up 80 centimeters in maximum height. It is powdery in texture, especially on the leaves and flowers. The leaves are up to 3 centimeters long, oval to lance-shaped with smooth edges. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

is a spike or panicle a few centimeters long made up of several clusters of tightly-packed tiny flowers. Each flower has five lobes and coats the developing fruit.

External links

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