Fig Leaved Goosefoot

Nile region and eastern desert.

Egypt, Europe, Asia.

Weeds of cultivation and waste ground.

Annual.

Chenopodium ficifolium has often been called C. serotinum Linnaeus. P. Aellen (1929b) and P. Uotila (1979b) have shown that the type of C. serotinum is a sterile Atriplex specimen (most probably A. tatarica Linnaeus) based on its Kranz-type leaf structure. Chenopodium blomianum Aellen [= C. ficifolium subsp. blomianum (Aellen) Aellen] was described from Sweden based on alien plants of presumably East Asian origin (P. Aellen 1928). According to Aellen, that subspecies occurs in southern and southeastern Asia and differs from C. ficifolium subsp. ficifolium in having leaves with spreading basal lobes almost perpendicular to the central lobe and seeds with shallow elongate depressions. All North American plants of C. ficifolium belong to subsp. ficifolium. In Europe C. ficifolium occasionally hybridizes with other species, including C. album (producing C. ×zahnii Murr) and C. suecicum (producing C. ×gruellii Aellen). No study has been made of such hybrids in North America.

Chenopodium ficifolium is represented in China by two subspecies: subsp. ficifolium and subsp. blomianum (Aellen) Aellen (Hegi, Ill. Fl. Mitt.-Eur., ed. 2, 3(2): 624. 1960; C. blomianum Aellen, Bot. Not. 1928: 203. 1928). The latter differs from the typical subspecies in having leaf blades with an often shorter middle lobe and less prominent lateral lobes, and seeds with shallower and less evident pits and a sinuous rim margin. It is distributed from Iraq to S and SE Asia. However, the typical subspecies also occurs within the range of subsp. blomianum. Both subspecies are variable, and several varieties have been described.

Chenopodium ficifolium occasionally hybridizes with other species of C. sect. Chenopodium.

The name Chenopodium serotinum Linnaeus has often been misapplied to this species but in fact refers to a species of Atriplex.

Stems erect, simple, 1.8-5.5 dm, glabrous to sparsely farinose. Leaves nonaromatic; petiole 0.3-4.5 cm, usually shorter than leaves; blade distinctly 3-lobed, narrowly ovate to elongate, (1.4-)2.7-6.2 × (0.5-)1.2-2.5 cm, base cuneate, margins toothed or nearly entire, with pair of basal lobes, apex obtuse to subacute, sparsely farinose. Inflorescences glomerules in terminal and lateral spikes and panicles, 11 cm; glomerules irregularly globose, in different stages of development, 1.7-1.9 mm diam.; bracts absent or leaflike. Flowers: perianth segments 5, connate at base into 0.3 mm tube; lobes ovate, 0.5-0.9 × 0.5-0.8 mm, apex acute, farinose, keeled, covering fruit at maturity; stamens 5; stigmas 2, 0.3 mm. Utricles depressed-ovoid; pericarp nonadherent, smooth. Seeds lenticular, 0.9-1 mm diam.; seed coat black, honeycomb-pitted. 2n = 18.

Herbs annual, 20-50 cm tall. Stem erect, green striate, ribbed. Leaf blade ovate-oblong, 2.5-5 × 1-3.5 cm, margin usually 3-lobed; central lobe margins almost parallel, subentire to sinuate-dentate, apex obtuse or subacute, mucronate; lateral lobes positioned in proximal 1/3 or near base of leaf blade, margin entire or shallowly dentate. Flowers bisexual, several per glomerule, these arranged in spreading, terminal panicles on upper branches. Perianth subglobose, 5-parted; segments valvate in bud, remaining closed at anthesis, broadly ovate, abaxially longitudinally keeled, densely farinose. Stamens 5, exserted at anthesis. Stigmas 2, filiform. Utricle included in perianth, falling together with it from plant; pericarp adnate to seed. Seed horizontal, black, sublustrous, ca. 1 mm in diam., distinctly hexagonally pitted, rim margin subobtuse; embryo annular. Fl. Apr-May.

Europe, N. Africa, most of Asia, east to Japan.

introduced; Que.; Fla., Mo., Oreg., Pa.; native s, se Asia, occasionally introduced in other parts of the world.

1100-2100 m

Fruiting early summer-fall.

Disturbed nitrogen-rich habitats; 0-200m.

Common weed of waste places, garbage dumps, roadsides, etc. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Asia, Europe; naturalized in North America and some other regions of the world].

Chenopodium serotinum auct., non L. 1756; Iljin & Aellen in Kom., Fl. URSS 6: 71. 1936; Grubov, Pl. As. Centr. 2: 23. 1966; Kung & Chu in Kung & Tsien, Fl. Reip. Pop. Sin. 25(2): 96. 1979.

Annual up to 60(80) cm, loosely branched, stem green but often with red stripes. Leaves bright green, long-petiolate, 2–7 × 1–3 cm, three-lobed; apical lobe 2–4 times longer than lateral lobes; lateral lobes in the lower part of leaf short, entire or sinuate; apical lobe long, narrow with ± parallel margins, entire or irregularly sinuate-dentate. Inflorescence leafy in the lower and middle parts, short (up to 15 cm). Perianth green, enclosing the fruit; dorsal segments slightly carinate. Fruit 1.2–1.5 mm in diameter, pericarp separating from the seed, papillate (honeycomb-like when dry). Seed marginally rounded or slightly keeled; testa longitudinally striate (Fig. 4G, H), slightly sinuate in cross-section.

See Fig. 6.

Chenopodium ficifolium, the fig-leaved goosefoot or figleaf goosefoot, is a plant species in the family Amaranthaceae originally native to the Irano-Turanian floristic region. It an archaeophyte weed in Europe and can now be found in temperate crop-growing regions in most of the world.