6. Chenopodium capitatum (L.) Asch. (strawberry blite, strawberry spinach)

Blitum capitatum L.

Pl. 354 e, f; Map 1526

Plants annual, without an odor. Stems 10–60 cm long, erect or ascending, few- to much-branched from near the base, glabrous, often somewhat reddish-tinged or reddish-striped. Leaves short- to long-petiolate. Leaf blades 1–10 cm long, mostly 1.0–2.5 times as long as wide, triangular to ovate-triangular, sharply pointed at the tip, broadly angled to truncate at the base, sometimes with a pair of spreading triangular basal lobes, green and slightly fleshy in texture, the margins also wavy or with sharp, irregular teeth, occasionally entire, the surfaces glabrous. Venation noticeably branched, with 1 or 3 main veins. Inflorescences terminal and sometimes also axillary, consisting of dense clusters of flowers (becoming enlarged to 5–15 mm in diameter at fruiting), these often arranged into spikes. Flowers often all or mostly maturing at more or less the same time. Calyx 3(–5)-lobed nearly to the base, becoming enlarged, red, and fleshy at maturity and covering the fruit, the lobes 0.6–0.7 mm long at flowering, oblong-elliptic to oblong-obovate, rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip, rounded dorsally, glabrous. Stamens usually 3 or 4. Stigmas 2. Fruits 0.7–1.2 mm long, ovoid, the seeds positioned mostly vertically, the wall thin, membranous, and somewhat translucent, smooth, difficult to separate from the seed. Seeds black, dull, finely roughened, angled along the rim. 2n=18. May–August.

Introduced, uncommon in eastern Missouri, but to be expected sporadically elsewhere (native of Europe, Asia; introduced widely in the northern and western U.S., Canada). Open, disturbed areas.

Strawberry blite is cultivated as an ornamental. The red, berrylike fruits are formed from the enlarged calyces of a flower cluster, which turn bright red as the fruits mature and become fused into a fleshy mass. These so-called fruits sometimes have been eaten raw or cooked or used as a coloring for beverages or makeup. The young foliage also sometimes is eaten cooked like spinach.