Blitum chenopodioides Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. 2: 170. 1771; B. polymorphum C. A. Meyer, p.p.; Chenopodium botryodes Smith.

Herbs annual, 20-50 cm tall. Stem erect, much branched, green striate, ribbed, usually not farinose. Leaf blade green abaxially, dark green adaxially, broadly triangular, 3-4 cm, slightly broader than long, ca. 2 × as long as petiole, slightly succulent, glabrous or slightly farinose, base truncate or broadly cuneate, decurrent to base of petiole, margin serrate or subentire, apex obtuse or shortly acuminate. Glomerules arranged in spikelike panicles on branches; central flowers of glomerules bisexual, lateral ones female. Female flowers: perianth obconic, 2-4-lobed, succulent; lobes cochleariform, unequal, abaxially keeled. Bisexual flowers: perianth depressed hemispheric, 4- or 5-parted; stamens as many as perianth segments. Seed vertical in female flowers, horizontal in bisexual flowers, yellow-brown, sublustrous, depressed ovoid, 0.5-0.75 mm in diam., slightly pitted, rim margin obtuse; embryo annular. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

The distribution of this species is insufficiently known because of confusion with Chenopodium rubrum. However, C. chenopodioides is confined to saline habitats (coastal and inland salt-marshes).

Gobi desert. N Xinjiang [N Africa, C and SW Asia, Europe, North America].