E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Chenopodium album subsp. album
lamb's-quarters
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family)
(Previously in Chenopodiaceae)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Jamie Fenneman  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #7391)

E-Flora BC Static Map
Distribution of Chenopodium album subsp. album
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Species Information

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General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, solitary, branched, 0.2-1.0 m tall, greenish to greyish-mealy, often reddish-tinged with age.
Leaves:
Stem leaves alternate, somewhat succulent, broadly lanceolate, deltoid, egg-shaped or diamond-shaped, 3-10 cm long, shallowly to prominently toothed or lobed, sparsely to densely mealy.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of densely clustered terminal or axillary spikes, greenish; with or without bracts.
Fruits:
Thin, membranous envelopes 1-1.5 mm broad; seeds black, shiny, flattened.
Notes:
The two subspecies recognized by Tutin (1964) for C. album appear to be present in our flora. They may be distinguished as follows:

1. Leaves lanceolate, egg-shaped or diamond-shaped, often abruptly sharp-pointed, margins not always parallel; stems green or red................ ssp. Album

1. Leaves oblong, obtuse, margins more or less parallel; stems often red striped.......................ssp. striatum (Krasan) J. Murr in Urban & Graebn.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Mesic to dry fields, waste places and gardens in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common throughout BC except the Queen Charlotte Islands and adjacent coast; introduced from Eurasia.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

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General References