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Goosefoot Family
The Chenopodiaceae is a large family of mostly perennial herbs, many of which are adapted to saline soils and live in salt marshes or arid, saline soils. The family is mostly temperate to subtropical with its center of distribution around the Mediterranean, Caspian and Red seas. Many of the species are somewhat weedy and occur near habitation. Some genera have fleshy stems, and most have small alternate leaves without stipules. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, and wind-pollinated. The Chenopodiaceae includes several species of economic importance: beets, including table beets and sugar beets (Beta vulgaris), spinach (Spinacea oleracea), and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). We have only a few genera of Chenopodiacea in western Washington, but many on the east side of the mountains.
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PICKLEWEED Pickleweed is a native, perennial, rhizomatous and matted herb common in the upper intertidal zone along quiet sandy or muddy beaches. The stems are fleshy, jointed and leafless (leaves reduced to minute scales along the stem). Flowering stems are often reddish-purple or brownish and 5-30 cm tall. The flowers are tiny and sunken into pits on the tips of the stems. |