Chenopodium capitatum (Strawberry Blite) - photos and description

 

 


15 cm ruler

 

Origin: Native.

General: Annual plant with spreading growth habit. Plants are succulent and glabrous. I have seen this plant listed in one prominent Canadian gardening magazine as a good choice for a xeric garden. Don't think I want it in my garden, I think it's weedy looking and from what I've seen of it growing wild, appears to be a heavy self-seeder.

Flowers: Bright red flower clusters in its leaf axils and resemble small strawberries, flower cluster measured at 12 mm diameter.

Leaves: Leaves are alternate, broadly triangular, rubbery to the touch, wavy margined. Typical leaf was measured at 7 cm long (including petiole) and 2.5 cm wide.

Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 40 cm tall, plant in above photo was 25 cm tall.

Habitat: Openings in / edges of woodlands, often disturbed soil.

Abundance: Common.

When and where photographed: Took the above photos July 13th, waste ground near gravel pit, Boreal Forest, vicinity of Hudson Bay, 400 km north of our home in Regina, SK.