Arenaria congesta

Chenopodium pratericola

Leaf Bottom
South of Sceptre
27-July-2002

This plant is likely C. pratericola. The 3-veined leaves with densely farinose leaf bottoms distinguish it from C. subglabrum whose leaves are mostly 1-veined and lightly farinose to almost glabrous.

The 3-veined leaves also distinguish it from C. leptophyllum, whose leaves are 1-nerved. In addition, the leaves of C. pratericola are narrowly lanceolate or oblong, sometimes slightly lobed at the base, and often over 4 mm broad. The leaves of C. leptophyllum are linear, entire, and mostly less than 4 mm broad.

The rest of the points in the keys leading to Chenopodium pratericola are as follows:

Pratericola Characteristics

plants white-mealy

leaves grayish mealy, especially below

leaves small, linear to ovate, entire or with small teeth or lobes; NOT large, broadly ovate, with 2 or 3 large triangular lobes or teeth on each side

leaves linear to lanceolate or oblong, entire or with small teeth near the base, short-petioled

leaves 1-3 nerved

Chenopodium Characteristics

herbs or low spineless shrubs

plants neither spiny nor with spine-tipped leaves

plants may be glabrous, scurfy or pubescent; but NOT with long, soft hairs

leaves slender, elongate, mostly alternate; NOT scale-like, opposite

leaves not circular in cross section

leaves not fleshy, sometimes linear but usually wider, flat, often toothed or lobed, usually scurfy or pubescent

Chenopodiaceae Characteristics
(Not all these points apply to all genera in Chenopodiaceae, but they all do apply to genus Chenopodium.)

plants terrestrial, but sometimes growing in marshy places

plants with stems or stemless, but with more than one pair of leaves

leaves without stipules

leaves not compound and not very deeply divided

leaves not orbicular or reniform