1.
Chenopodium bonus-henricus
Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 218. 1753.
Good King Henry, allgood, fat-hen, wild spinach
Stems
erect to ascending, unbranched, 2.5-7.5 dm, somewhat viscid and farinose.
Leaves
nonaromatic; petiole 1-12 cm; blade triangular to broadly hastate, 4.5-10 × 3-9 cm, base truncate, cordate, or hastate, margins entire, apex acute (acuminate), adaxially sparsely farinose.
Inflorescences:
dense glomerules sessile on terminal and axillary spikes, spikes 5-19 cm; glomerules 3-5 mm diam., flowers developing at about same time; bracts absent.
Flowers:
perianth segments connate into 0.4-0.6 mm tube, lobes oblong or elliptic, 0.8-1.5 × 0.5-1.1 mm, apex obtuse, rounded or truncate, scarcely abaxially keeled throughout, glabrous, not covering fruit at maturity; stamens (4-)5; stigmas 2-4.
Achenes
obovoid; pericarp adherent, ± smooth.
Seeds
obovoid or rotund, 1.5-2 mm in diam. margins not rounded; seed coat black, rugose.
Fruiting early summer-fall. Waste areas and cultivated ground; 0-200 m; introduced; Alta., N.B., N.S., Ont., Que.; Conn., Ill., Ky., Maine, Mass., Mich., N.J., N.Y., Pa., R.I.; native to mountains of Europe.
Chenopodium bonus-henricus
is widely grown throughout the temperate regions, occasionally escaping.
