CHENOPODIACEAE, the Goosefoot Family
Herbs, with inconspicuous greenish or reddish flowers without petals, in summer.
| 1a. Leaves linear or nearly so, entire [— 2.] | |
| 1b. Leaves of a broader shape, usually toothed or lobed [— 5.] | |
| 2a. Leaves rather stiff, narrowly linear or thread-like, with spine-like tips | Russian Thistle, Salsola kali var. tenuifolia. |
| 2b. Leaves soft, not spine-like [— 3.] | |
| 3a. Widely branched, rather diffuse, 1-5 dm. tall; plant of the shore of the Great Lakes | Bug-seed, Corispermum hyssopifolium. |
| 3b. Erect plants with ascending branches [— 4.] | |
| 4a. Leaves glabrous (3-6 dm. tall) | Goosefoot, Chenopodium leptophyllum. |
| 4b. Leaves minutely ciliate on the margin (bushy branched, 5-10 dm. tall) | Kochia, Kochia scoparia. |
| 5a. Principal leaves with a broad truncate, rounded, or hastate base [— 6.] | |
| 5b. Principal leaves narrowed to the base [— 12.] | |
| 6a. Leaves broadly ovate, with 1-4 large sharp projecting teeth on each side | Goosefoot, Chenopodium hybridum. |
| 6b. Leaves hastate or triangular-ovate, entire or with many teeth [— 7.] | |
| 7a. Leaves entire or merely undulate [— 8.] | |
| 7b. Leaves sharply or sinuately toothed [— 9.] | |
| 8a. Stem erect, simple or sparingly branched | Good King Henry, Chenopodium bonus-henricus. |
| 8b. Stem diffuse or ascending, freely branched | Orache, Atriplex patula. |
| 9a. Flowers in small heads, in the axils or in terminal spikes; leaves sinuately toothed or nearly entire | Strawberry Blite, Chenopodium capitatum. |
| 9b. Flowers in terminal panicles; leaves sharply toothed (Goosefoot) [— 10.] | |
| 10a. Panicles short, not as long as the subtending leaves | Goosefoot, Chenopodium murale. |
| 10b. Panicles long, exceeding the subtending leaves [— 11.] | |
| 11a. Calyx green | Goosefoot, Chenopodium urbicum. |
| 11b. Calyx red | Goosefoot, Chenopodium rubrum. |
| 12a. Foliage glandular and strongly aromatic [— 13.] | |
| 12b. Foliage not glandular nor aromatic; sometimes ill-scented [— 15.] | |
| 13a. Flowers in large loose open spreading panicles; leaves deeply pinnatifid | Jerusalem Oak, Chenopodium botrys. |
| 13b. Flowers clustered in slender axillary or terminal spikes [— 14.] | |
| 14a. Spikes dense, leafy | Mexican Tea, Chenopodium ambrosioides. |
| 14b. Spikes open, nearly leafless | Wormseed, Chenopodium ambrosioides var. anthelminticum. |
| 15a. Stem erect, 5-20 dm. tall; leaves frequently white-mealy | Lamb's Quarters, Chenopodium album. |
| 15b. Stem prostrate or ascending, succulent; leaves glaucous-white beneath | Goosefoot, Chenopodium glaucum. |
| 15c. Stem widely and diffusely branched; leaves green, soon deciduous | Cycloloma, Cycloloma atriplicifolium. |
AMARANTHACEAE, the Amaranth Family
Herbs, with alternate leaves, and inconspicuous greenish or reddish flowers without petals, which are axillary or in dense clusters, blooming in summer.
| 1a. Flower-clusters axillary [— 2.] | |
| 1b. Flower-clusters in terminal spikes or panicles, sometimes also axillary [— 3.] | |
| 2a. Plant prostrate or decumbent; seed about 1.5 mm. broad | Pigweed, Amaranthus blitoides. |
| 2b. Plant erect or ascending, widely branched; seeds about 1 mm. broad (3-10 dm. high) | Tumble Weed, Amaranthus graecizans. |
| 3a. Principal leaves with a pair of spines at their base | Thorny Amaranth, Amaranthus spinosus. |
| 3b. Spines none at the base of the leaves [— 4.] | |
| 4a. Weedy plants of cultivated or waste ground; flowers monoecious or polygamous; pistillate flowers with a calyx (Pigweed) [— 5.] | |
| 4b. Plants of swamps or stream-banks; flowers dioecious; pistillate flowers without calyx (Water Hemp) [— 7.] | |
| 5a. Spikes short, 1-8 cm. long, crowded in dense ovoid panicles; the terminal spike not conspicuously elongated beyond the appressed or ascending lower ones | Pigweed, Amaranthus retroflexus. |
| 5b. Spikes slender, 1-12 cm. long; the terminal spike greatly exceeding the short inconspicuous divergent lower ones [— 6.] | |
| 6a. Bracts subulate, sharply awned | Pigweed, Amaranthus hybridus. |
| 6b. Bracts merely acuminate | Pigweed, Amaranthus paniculatus. |
| 7a. Flowers in leafy spikes, or the lower in separate clusters | Water Hemp, Acnida tuberculata. |
| 7b. Flowers in separate distinct clusters | Water Hemp, Acnida tuberculata var. subnuda. |
PHYTOLACCACEAE, the Pokeweed Family
Herbs with alternate entire leaves, small flowers without petals, and a many-celled ovary.
| One species in Michigan, 1-2 m. high, with numerous racemes of whitish flowers, in late summer, followed by dark-purple berries | Pokeweed, Phytolacca decandra. |