Chenopodium californicum

Identification

Gallery

Description

Perennial to 3.5 ft. in height, with a caudex (thickened, woody stem base), flowers are insignificant, best in a wild garden as it shrivels to the ground in the dry season, survives with the aid of its thick caudex and root, and emerges again when the weather warms and enough moisture has fallen. Native Californians utilized the leaves as potherbs. This particular species grows best in a wild, informal garden, not in a conventional or even a formal, native garden. It is found in many plant communities throughout California to the desert edges. Goosefoot grows best in the partial shade of a shrub or tree; for example, Sambucus mexicana, Rhamnus ilicifolia, in the central oak woodland or Artemisia californica in the coastal sage scrub.