CHENOPODIUM

chenopodium, or goose-foot, a genus of erect or prostrate herbs (natural order chenopodiaceae), usually growing on the seashore or on waste or cultivated ground. the green angular stem is often striped with white or red, and, like the leaves, often more or less covered with mealy hairs. the leaves are entire, lobed or toothed, often more or less deltoid or triangular in shape. the minute flowers are bisexual, and borne in dense axillary or terminal clusters or spikes. the fruit is a membranous one-seeded utricle often enclosed by the persistent calyx. ten species occur in britain, one of which, _c. bonus-henricus_, good king henry, is cultivated as a pot-herb, in lieu of asparagus, under the name mercury, and all-good.