Chenopodium opulifoliumSchrad. ex W.D.J.Koch & Ziz

Grey Goosefootseaport goosefoot

WFO wfo-0000601580 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Chenopodium opulifolium, photographed by viridian
fig. a viridian, CC0 1.0 / 2020-06-17 / obs. 79365289

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Accession
K000914046
Filed as
Chenopodium opulifolium Schrad. ex W.D.J.Koch & Ziz
Det. by
Cope, T.A.
Collected
Cope, T.A. 2010-08-26
Origin
GB
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 65 botanical countries

Regions where Chenopodium opulifolium is native: Algeria, Angola, Azores, Burundi, Canary Is., Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madeira, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Altay, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, West Siberia, Yemen, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaAngolaBurundiDjiboutiDR CongoEgyptEritreaEthiopiaKenyaMalawiMoroccoMozambiqueRwandaSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTunisiaUgandaZambiaZimbabweAltayCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqKuwaitLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanWest SiberiaYemenAlbaniaAustriaBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine AzoresCanary Is.MadeiraBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Chenopodium opulifolium, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Azores AZO
Burundi BUR
Canary Is. CNY
Djibouti DJI
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Madeira MDR
Malawi MLW
Morocco MOR
Mozambique MOZ
Rwanda RWA
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Tunisia TUN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kuwait KUW
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
West Siberia WSB
Yemen YEM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 360 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -6.5 °C -4.7 °C 8.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.4 °C 25.0 °C 32.5 °C
Annual rainfall 410 mm 631 mm 900 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 16 mm 107 mm 158 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 360 research-grade observations of Chenopodium opulifolium that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 10 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Anserina opulifolia (Schrad. ex Koch & Ziz) Montandon
  • Chenopodium album f. viride (L.) Aellen
  • Chenopodium album subsp. opulifolium (Schrad. ex W.D.J.Koch & Ziz) Maire
  • Chenopodium album subsp. opulifolium (Schrad. ex W.D.J.Koch & Ziz) Batt.
  • Chenopodium album var. opulifolium (Schrad. ex W.D.J.Koch & Ziz) G.Mey.
  • Chenopodium erosum Bastard
  • Chenopodium opulifolium subsp. orientale Murr
  • Chenopodium opulifolium subsp. ugandae Aellen
  • Chenopodium triangulare Forssk.
  • Chenopodium ugandae (Aellen) Aellen

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.