Stems erect, branched, 2-6 dm, glabrous. Leaves nonaromatic; petiole 0.5-2.5 cm; blade oblong-ovoid to lanceolate, 2-4.5 × 0.5-1.5 cm, base cuneate, margins entire or proximal ones with few teeth, apex acute to acuminate, sparsely farinose. Inflorescences glomerules in terminal and lateral spikes and panicles, 6-15 cm; glomerules irregularly globose, 0.5-2 mm diam., flowers in different stages of development; bracts absent. Flowers: perianth segments 5, distinct nearly to base; lobes obovate, 0.5-0.7 × 0.5-0.7 mm, apex rounded, faintly keeled or not keeled, scarcely farinose, partly covering fruit at maturity; stamens 5; stigmas 2, 0.2 mm. Utricles depressed-ovoid; pericarp nonadherent, smooth. Seeds lenticular, margins round, 0.9-1.3 mm diam.; seed coat black, reticulate-alveolate to smooth. 2n = 18. Fruiting Sep. Shaded wooded areas in disturbed soils; elevation not known; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.J., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

Annual herb 20 cm - 1 m tall Stem: upright to arching, branched. Leaves: alternate, on a 0.5 - 2.5 cm long stalk, 2 - 8 cm long, 0.5 - 1.5 cm wide, oblong egg-shaped to lance-shaped with a tapering base and pointed tip, thin, sometimes lower leaves bear a few teeth along the margins, sparsely white-mealy. Inflorescence: a 0.5 - 2 mm wide, irregularly round cluster of flowers (glomerule), which together form short, interrupted spikes and larger branched inflorescences (panicles) that are 6 - 15 cm long. Flowers: greenish, small, with five nearly distinct sepals and no petals. Sepal lobes about 0.5 mm long and wide, reverse egg-shaped with a rounded apex, lightly keeled or not keeled, more or less white-mealy. Stamens five. Stigmas two. Fruit: one-seeded (utricle), only partially enclosed in the persistent, incurved sepals, depressed egg-shaped, thin-walled. Wall (pericarp) not adhered to the seed, easily separated, papery, smooth. Seed horizontal, black, shiny, 0.9 - 1.3 mm wide, lenticular (lens-shaped), round-margined, wrinkled-honeycombed to smooth.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: June to early September

Habitat and ecology: Locally frequent in sandy soils. Also found in thin woods, especially where competition has been removed.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Chenopodium comes from the Greek words chen, meaning goose, and podion, meaning "little foot," referring to the leaf shape of some species.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

In sandy soil along roadsides and in open sandy woods. True C. boscianum Moq. [which Deam considers distinct from C. standleyanum] occurs in the southern states.

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 5

Wetland Indicator Status:

Erect or arching annual to 1(-2) m; lvs thin, green or sparsely mealy, lanceolate to rarely ovate, to 8 cm, acute, entire or the larger with a few low teeth, acute or cuneate at base; fls single to few in small glomerules, these forming short, interrupted spikes that are often grouped into a loose, slender, sometimes nodding panicle; cal ±white-mealy, scarcely covering the fr; pericarp smooth, papery, fragile, easily separable; seeds horizontal, black, shining, ca 1 mm wide, smooth to faintly striolate, longitudinally striolate over the radicle; 2n=18. Dry, open woods; widespread in e. U.S. and adj. Can., from s. Que. to Fla., and w. to S.D. and Tex. (C. boscianum, misapplied)

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

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