Botanical Family · Caryophyllales

Chenopodiaceae

Goosefoot Family

3 speciesOrder Caryophyllales3+ well-known plants

The Chenopodiaceae family (Goosefoot Family) is a botanical family placed in the order Caryophyllales. In the SASYA catalogue it spans 3 species across 2 genera. Its members are predominantly herbs. Well-represented genera include Chenopodium and Suaeda. Several members are valued in traditional medicine. Familiar examples include White Goose foot, Mexican Tea and Common Indian Salt wort.

Browse all 3 species ↓

Representative specimen · Chenopodiaceae

Key pattern

Alternate, often mealy or grey-dusted leaves, frequently shaped like a goose's foot, on herbs adapted to salty or disturbed soils; tiny, petal-less, wind-pollinated flowers cluster densely along a spike, ripening into a single-seeded fruit tightly wrapped by the persistent calyx.

Many species tolerate unusually salty soils by storing excess salt in swollen, water-filled leaf tissue, giving the foliage its characteristic mealy or succulent-grey appearance.

Identify the species

Which Chenopodiaceae species is this?

Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Chenopodiaceae species.

Click a node to trace its path · pinch or scroll to zoom · drag to pan

Family identification method

To check whether a plant belongs to Chenopodiaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.

Learn the full family-identification method