Chenopodium album
Common names
fathen, white goosefoot
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Green, White
Similar taxa
Taproot short and much branched. Stems 0.9 to 1.2 m tall, smooth, grooved, often with red or light green striations. Branching varies from little to much, depending on competition. Leaves alternate 2.5 to 7.5 cm long, smooth, usually white mealy-coated, especially on underside and in early stages, and with edges more or less toothed. Flowers small, green, without petals, borne at ends of branches and in the axils of leaves (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Amaranthaceae
Ecology
Year naturalised
1867
Origin
Temperate Eurasia, N. Africa
Life cycle and dispersal
Seed, shiny, black, disk-shaped, 1.5 mm in diameter with a grey hull (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).
Other information
Etymology
chenopodium: From the Greek chen ‘goose’ and pous ‘foot’, referring to the shape of the leaves
album: From the Latin albus ‘white’
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
CHEALB