Chenopodium missouriense

Missouri lambsquarters

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Missouri lambsquarters is a naturalized annual found in northern Sierra Nevada foothills, southern Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, southern California coastal areas, and Peninsular Ranges in open, generally disturbed areas at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from September to October, this plant produces small green-white flowers in dense axillary and terminal spikes. Growing with upright stems 40 to 200 centimeters tall, it has a branching habit with curved or pendulous inflorescence branches. Its distinctive leaves are ovate to triangular-diamond shaped, 1.5 to 8 centimeters long, with irregularly wavy-dentate edges and a powdery appearance. The fruit is 1 to 1.5 millimeters in diameter with a thick, shining brown-black wall and a horizontal black seed with a netted seed coat.

Habitat: Open, generally disturbed areas

Bloom period: Sep-Oct

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: n SNF, s SN, SnJV, SCo, PR

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