Chenopodium fremontii

Fremont's goosefoot

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Fremont's goosefoot is a California native annual found in the Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, Great Basin, and Desert Mountains in shaded places, scrub, and conifer forest at elevations of 700 to 3,100 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces small green flowers in dense axillary and terminal spikes. Growing with branched stems 10 to 70 centimeters tall, it spreads widely from its base with multiple branches. Its thin leaves are broadly triangular to ovate, typically 0.5 to 2.5 centimeters long, with 1 to 2 spreading lobes near the base and a truncate to rounded base. The distinctive black, slightly warty seeds are horizontally positioned with ridged margins, creating a unique square cross-section.

Habitat: Generally shaded places, scrub, conifer forest

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: 700-3100 m

Bioregions: SN, TR, PR, GB, DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Fresno, Tulare, Santa Barbara, Inyo, Modoc, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside, Mono, Kern, Alpine, Lassen, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Nevada

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.