CHENOPODIUM or GOOSE-FOOT, a genus of erect or some times prostrate herbs of the family Chenopodiaceae, comprising some 6o species, natives of temperate regions, some of which have cosmopolitan distribution as weeds. Of the nine species found in Great Britain practically all are naturalized in the United States and Canada. Inclusive of those introduced from the Old World, some 25 species occur in North America. A well known representative is the common goose-foot (C. album), called also lamb's quarters and pigweed. It is native to Europe and Asia, is found in Great Britain, and is widely prevalent in North America as a naturalized weed. The green angular stem is often striped with white or red, and, like the leaves, often more or less covered with mealy hairs. The leaves are entire, lobed or toothed and often more or less triangular in shape. The minute flowers are borne in dense axillary or terminal clusters. The fruit, usually enclosed by the persistent calyx, is a membranous utricle cover ing a small, black, shining seed. Among other goose-foots found in Great Britain and also naturalized in North America are the maple-leaved goose-foot (C. hybriduyn) , the nettle-leaved goose foot or sow-bare (C. murale), the oak-leaved goose-foot (C. glaze cum), the many-seeded goose-foot (C. polyspermum), the city goose-foot (C. urbicurn), and good King Henry (C. Bonus-Henri cus). Other Old-World species naturalized in North America are the Jerusalem oak (C. Botrys), the Mexican tea (C. ambrosivides) and the wormseed (C. anthelminticum) .
Among native North American species are the red goose-foot (C. rubrum), growing on saline soils on sea coasts and in the in terior, and found also in Europe; the strawberry blite (C. capita tum), with a fleshy red fruit somewhat resembling strawberries, native to dry soil from Nova Scotia to Alaska southward to New Jersey and California, and also in Europe; and the California goose-foot or soap-plant (C. calif ornicum) , found in the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada and Coast ranges, the grated roots of which are used as soap by the Indians.
Quinoa (C. Quinoa), native to the Andean region, is cultivated in South America for its seeds, used as food. The wormseed (q.v.) yields a drug used as a vermifuge. (See the article GOOD KING