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138 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS OF KASHMIR [Plate 55
White Goosefoot.
Chenopodium album, Linn.
An erect herb, 1-10 ft. high, erect or ascending, mealy or
green or reddish, scentless. Sterns angled, often tinged with
red or purple. Leaves very variable in size and shape, entire,
toothed or lobed ;
stalks slender, often as long as or longer
than the blade. Flowers in clusters, forming compact or
loosely panicled spikes. Sepals 5, iVis m -
long, oblong-lanceshaped,
keeled, closely investing the thinly membranous fruit.
Stigmas 2. Seeds rs in. diameter, round, compressed with a
sharp margin, smooth, shining, black.
Locality. Up to 12,000 ft.
Distribution. Cosmopolitan.
Chenopodium opulifolium,
Schrad.
(Opulifolium means having leaves like those of Viburnum Opulus,
Linn., the Guelder Hose.)
An erect or ascending, mealy, annual herb, 1-3 ft. high.
Leaves long-stalked, broadly triangular, about li in. each way,
margins sinuate or irregularly lobed ;
upper leaves similar to
the lower. Inflorescence bluish-green. Cymes axillary, laxflowered,
usually shorter than the leaves. Sepals 5, keeled,
only partially covering the fruit. Seeds dotted.
Very nearly related to C. album. It is not easy to distinguish
the two, as both are very variable. C. opulifolium can
always be made out by the dotted seeds.
Locality. At elevations of 6,000-14,000 ft.
Distribution. Kashmir to Nepal, N. and W. Asia, Europe.
Chenopodium glaucum, Linn.
Oak-leafed Goosefoot.
(Glaucum means bluish-green, referring to the lower surface
of the leaves.)
A prostrate, annual herb, 4-18 in. high. Stems usually
spreading, widely branched, shining, smooth. Leaves green
above, white, bluish-green, mealy below, oblong, wavy, toothed,
blunt or round, wedge-shaped below. Flowers in short, erect,
simple, leafless, terminal and axillary, dense spikes. Perianthsegments
5, keeled, almost covering the fruit, leaving a narrow,
membranous border. Seeds with a sharp keel, reddish, very
small, the horizontal ones largest, the others vertical, netted,
granular.
Locality. Ladakh, 12,000-14,000 ft.
Distribution. Kashmir, N. and W.Asia, Europe, N.America,
Chili, Australasia.