Chenopodium rubrum var. rubrum

Red goosefoot

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Red goosefoot is a naturalized annual found in the northern Coast Ranges, North Coast, Cascade Range, Tehama County, Central Valley, central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, southern California, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions in open, saline places and drying mud flats at elevations below 1,100 meters. Flowering from August to October, this plant produces small, inconspicuous greenish-red flowers. Growing with erect to ascending stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms a delicate, branching structure. Its leaves have deeply toothed margins, creating a distinctive serrated appearance that helps distinguish it from other annual plants. The tiny seeds are approximately one millimeter in diameter, allowing for wide dispersal in its saline habitat.

Habitat: Open, saline places, drying mud flats

Bloom period: Aug-Oct

Elevation: < 1100 m

Bioregions: NCoRO, NCoRI, CaR, Teh, GV, CCo, SnFrB, SCo, GB, DMoj

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