Dysphania cristata (F.Muell.) Mosyakin & Clemants

Crested goosefoot (en), Épazote à crêtes (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Caryophyllales > Amaranthaceae > Dysphania

Characteristics

Stems prostrate, branched, 3-5 dm, pilose and glandular-pilose, or with sessile glands. Leaves aromatic; petiole 0.7-1 cm; blade ovate or elliptic, 1.3-2.1 × 1.1-1.5 cm, reduced somewhat in inflorescence, base cuneate, apex obtuse, glandular-pubescent. Inflorescences axillary glomerules; glomerules subglobose, 4-6 mm diam.; bracts similar to cauline leaves, elliptic, reduced to 0.8 mm, margins crenate-dentate, apex obtuse. Flowers: perianth segments 5, distinct nearly to base, distinct portions elliptic to oblong, strongly keeled, 1.8-1.9 × 0.3-0.5 mm, apex acuminate, fimbriate and hirsute, pubescent with septate hairs, hardly enclosing fruit, becoming white, strongly crested and 5-winged vertically, rostrate, semiorbiculate, and cartilaginous in fruit; stamen 1; stigmas 2. Achenes ovoid; pericarp adherent, membranaceous, slightly rugose and papillate. Seeds reddish brown, ovoid, 0.6-0.7 × 0.5-0.6 mm, margins slightly keeled over radicle and grooved over cotyledons; seed coat smooth.
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Prostrate to ascending annual branching from base, aromatic. Stems pilosulose with both slender and sessile to shortly stipitate gland-tipped hairs. Leaves elliptic to broadly elliptic, entire to coarsely toothed, sparsely puberulous; lamina c. 10 mm long; petiole slender, c. 5 mm long. Flowers in dense axillary clusters. Tepals 5, erect, acuminate. Stamen 0 or 1. Fruiting perianth spherical in outline, c. 2 mm diam., strongly 5-winged, white; tepals free to base, cartilaginous, strongly crested (vertically winged), semiorbicular, rostrate, completely enclosing fruit. Pericarp transparent, adherent. Seed erect, lenticular, c. 0.5 mm diam.
Prostrate herb. Flowers in axillary clusters. Leaves ovate to narrowly ovate, margins lobed, distinctly petiolate. Perianth crested. Weed. Flowers greenish white.
Life form annual
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination anemogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.6
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Frequently in red sandysoil.
Light 6-9
Soil humidity 5-7
Soil texture 2-5
Soil acidity 3-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

Uses animal food dye medicinal vertebrate poison
Edible leaves saps seeds
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Dysphania cristata unspecified picture

Distribution

Dysphania cristata world distribution map, present in Australia, United States of America, and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:70029923-1
WFO ID wfo-0000658875
COL ID 6DSN2
BDTFX ID 102943
INPN ID 611757
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Chenopodium cristatum Dysphania cristata Blitum cristatum