Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: Worldwide
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Speed
Status: Common

About

A prolific weedy annual that pops up in gardens and disturbed soil worldwide, its arrowhead-shaped leaves dusted with a distinctive whitish, mealy powder. Young leaves are edible and were eaten as a spinach substitute long before cultivated greens were common.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Chenopodium
Species: Chenopodium album