13. Chenopodium Bnus-Henricus L. Good King Henry. Perennial Goosefoot

Fig. 1689

Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus L. Sp. Pl. 218. 1753. Blitum Bonus-Henricus Reichb. Fl. Germ. Exc. 582. 1830-32.

Perennial by a thick rootstock, glabrous, dark green, not mealy; stem erect, usually stout, simple or little branched, channeled, 1°-2 1/2° tall. Leaves broadly triangular-hastate, palmately veined, entire or undulate (rarely with 1 or 2 small teeth), the apex and basal lobes usually acute, the lower long-petioled (petiole often twice as long as the blade), the upper much smaller and short-petioled; flowers in terminal and axillary, simple or panicled, commonly dense spikes sometimes 3'-4' long; calyx 4-5-parted, the segments not longer than the fruit; styles elongate; seed vertical, or that of terminal flowers horizontal, black, shining, blunt-edged; embryo a complete ring.

In waste places, Nova Scotia and Ontario to Massachusetts and southern New York. Naturalized from Europe. All good. English mercury. Wild spinach. Fat-hen. Roman plant. Blite. Mercury-goosefoot. Smiddy-leaves. Markery. June-Sept.

14. Chenopodium Bòtrys L. Feather Geranium. Jerusalem Oak

Fig. 1690

Chenopodium Botrys L. Sp Pl. 219. 1753.

Annual, green, glandular-pubescent and viscid, strong-scented; stem slender, erect, simple or branched, 8'-2° tall. Leaves ovate or oblong, deeply and usually irregularly pinnately lobed, acute or obtuse at the apex, petioled, 1/2'-2' long, or the uppermost much smaller, the lobes mostly obtuse and dentate; flowers in numerous loose axillary cymose panicles mostly longer than the leaves; calyx 3-5-parted, the segments lanceolate, acute, thin, very pubescent, rather longer than the utricle; seed horizontal or vertical, firmly attached to the pericarp; embryo an incomplete ring.

In waste places, Nova Scotia to Minnesota and Washington, southeastern New York, Kentucky and Mexico. Naturalized from Europe. Native also of Asia. The leaves fall in autumn, leaving the panicles as narrow naked wands. Turnpike-geranium. Hindheal. Ambrose. July-Sept.

Chenopodium incisum Poir., of tropical America, with puberulent flowers and acute leaf-lobes is reported as established in Maine.

15. Chenopodium Ambrosioides L. Mexican Tea

Fig. 1691

Chenopodium ambrosioides L. Sp. Pl. 219. 1753. Chenopodium anthelminticum L. Sp. Pl. 220. 1753. Chenopodium ambrosioides var. anthelminticum A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 408. 1867.

Annual or southward perennial, glabrous or slightly glandular-pubescent, green, not mealy, strong-scented, stem much branched, ascending or erect, leafy, 2o- 3 1/2o high, angular and grooved. Leaves ovate, oblong, or lanceolate, obtuse or acute at the apex, petioled, repand-dentate, undulate, coarsely dentate, incised, or the upper entire, l'-5' long, the upper numerous and much smaller; flowers in small dense axillary often leafy spikes, mostly shorter than the subtending leaves; calyx usually 3-parted, completely enclosing the fruit; pericarp readily separable from the seed; seed horizontal or vertical, shining; embryo an incomplete ring.

In waste places, Maine and Ontario to Florida, west across the continent to California. Naturalized from tropical America. Introduced as a weed also into southern Europe and Asia. Consists of numerous races, the spikes leafy to leafless. Aug-Oct.