Chenopodiaceæ

Chenopodiaceæ, an order of apetalous dicotyledons usually regarded as reduced types of Caryophyllaceæ, and closely related to Amaranthaceæ, with which some include them as Oleraceæ. They are herbaceous or half-shrubby plants, with simple, alternate, exstipulate leaves, and inconspicuous flowers, hermaphrodite or unisexual, usually wind-fertilised. There are about 500 species, mostly wood-like, and growing in waste places. They are widely diffused over the world, particularly northern Europe and Asia. Beet and spinach are among the best known and most useful plants of the order, but many others are occasionally used as pot-herbs, as some species of Chenopodium, Orache (q.v.), &c. The fruit of Strawberry Blite (Blitum capitatum and B. virgatum), a common weed in the south of Europe and the colder parts of North America, has a sweetish, insipid taste, and some resemblance to a strawberry, from the coherence of the fleshy perianths of a whole head of flowers. The seed of Quinoa (q.v.) is used for food as a kind of grain. Some are aromatic (see CHENOPODIUM). Some inhabit salt-marshes, and abound in soda. See SALTWORT.