Weeds

Chenopodium suecicum J. Murr. - Swedish Goosefoot

Systematic position.

Family Chenopodiaceae Vent., genus Chenopodium L.

Synonyms.

Chenopodium viride auct. non L., Chenopodium album var. viride (L.) Wahl.

Biological group.

Annual spring weed.

Morphology and biology.

Plant is up to 100 cm in height. Root is stalky, stems are erect, more or less branched in their lower part, with light linear stripes, mealy farinose, later on glabrous. Leaves are alternate, bright- or glaucous-green from both sides, farinose while young, widely-ovate to triangular, with widely-cuneate or ovate base, often slightly trilobate, sharply serrated along the edge. Flowers are clustered into small, loose spiciform-paniculate, more or less terminal inflorescences. Perianth consists of 5 lobes, its leaflets are carinate and farinose; pericarp is whitish, tightly soldered with the seed. Seed is black, about 1 mm in diameter, with numerous, relatively shallow radial grooves; between the grooves there are irregularly developed honeycomb excavations of round or oblong shape, with rounded, wide, gradually descending edges. This plant flowers and bears fruits in June-September. It is propagated by seeds. Seeds save their germinating ability passing through the digestive system of animals. Seed viability remains for up to 10 years.

Distribution.

Scandinavia, Atlantic Europe, Middle Europe, North America. Within the Former Soviet Union the plant occurs in the European part, Western and Eastern Siberia, the Far East.

Ecology.

Ch. suecicum grows under conditions of the sufficient moistening. It cannot withstand shading. This plant is undemanding to the type of soil.

Economic significance.

Weed of mainly forest and forest-steppe zones, in steppe zones it occurs less frequently; in semi-deserts and deserts Ch. suecicum is not found even on irrigated lands. This plant is an intractable weed. It infests agricultural crops, vegetable gardens, orchards, parks, forest belts; it grows along roads, near houses, along shores of water reservoirs. Control measures are autumn plowing and inter-row soil tillage.

Reference citations:

Anonym. 1996-2003. Chenopodium suecicum. Plants For A Future Database: http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Chenopodium+suecicum
Komarov V.L. & Shishkin B.K., eds. 1936. Flora of the USSR. V. 6. Moscow-Leningrad: AN SSSR. 954 p. (in Russian).
Krasnoborov I.M. & Malyshev L.I., eds. 1992. Flora of Siberia. V. 5. Novisibirsk: Nauka. 312 p. (in Russian).
Nikitin V.V. 1983. Weed plants of the USSR flora. Leningrad: Nauka. 454 p. (in Russian).

© S.Yu.Larina

The image of Chenopodium suecicum is taken from the Internet:
http://home.worldonline.dk/garrido/chenopodium/suecicum.htm (Chenopodium in the northern Europe).