4. Chenopodium botrys L. (Jerusalem oak, feather geranium)
Dysphania
botrys (L.) Mosyakin
& Clemants
Pl. 353 o, p;
Map 1524
Plants annual,
with a slight unpleasant odor. Stems 10–60 cm long, erect or ascending, few- to
more commonly much-branched, with dense, short glandular hairs, usually not
reddish-tinged or reddish-striped. Leaves sessile (uppermost) to long-petiolate
(lowermost). Leaf blades 0.5–4.0 cm long (the lowermost rarely to 8 cm long),
those of well-developed leaves mostly 1.5–3.0 times as long as wide, oblong,
lanceolate, or ovate, mostly bluntly pointed at the tip, rounded or angled to
truncate at the base, entire or with few to several rounded lobes, green and
herbaceous in texture, the margins usually also wavy or with shallow, blunt, narrow
teeth, the surfaces lacking mealiness but with dense, short glandular hairs.
Venation noticeably branched, usually with 1 main vein. Inflorescences axillary
and terminal, mostly small panicles, some of the axillary ones occasionally
reduced to small, sessile clusters of flowers. Flowers not all maturing at the
same time. Calyx 5-lobed to below the midpoint, somewhat spreading at maturity
and exposing the fruit, the lobes 0.7–0.9 mm long, elliptic-ovate to
oblong-elliptic, sharply pointed at the tip, flat or nearly so dorsally,
densely pubescent with short glandular hairs. Stamens 5. Stigmas 2. Fruits 0.5–0.8
mm long, ovoid to depressed-ovoid, the seeds mostly positioned horizontally,
the wall thin, membranous, and somewhat translucent, smooth, difficult to
separate from the seed. Seeds dark brown to nearly black, often somewhat
mottled, dull, roughened to finely wrinkled, rounded along the rim. 2n=18.
July–October.
Introduced,
uncommon in eastern Missouri but to be
expected elsewhere (native of Europe, Asia; introduced widely in the U.S. and Canada). Gardens, railroads, and
open, disturbed areas.