Chenopodium vulvaria L.
fish guts plant
Very foetid annual, ± farinose, especially young parts and infl., eglandular. Roots as thick as stems. Stems to c. 50 cm long, pale, prostrate or decumbent, branched. Petioles to 1 cm long, slender; lamina to 2 × 1.5 cm, rhombic to ovate, usually becoming efarinose above, entire or with 1 pair of teeth; base cuneate or broad-cuneate; apex obtuse or acute. Glomerules dense, axillary, concentrated towards shoot apices and infl. dense and narrow, at least lower glomerules subtended by lvs. Perianth segments 0.5-1 mm long, valvate, with a green obtuse or rounded keel, united in lower part. Fr. completely invested by perianth; pericarp easily removed. Seed horizontal, c. 1 mm diam., lenticular, the flattened edge acute; testa shining black, minutely punctulate.
S.: rare, only known from the Waitaki Valley (Canterbury, Otago).
Europe, W. Asia, N. Africa 1988
Waste land, lawns.
FL Dec-Mar.
C. vulvaria has been confused with the similar indigenous C. detestans because both have a revolting smell of rotting fish (trimethylamine) and are prostrate plants with small, rhombic to ovate lvs, characters which separate them from all other spp. However, C. vulvaria is distinguished from C. detestans by the much more diffuse habit with longer stems, the perianth segments and filaments obviously fused below the middle, 5 as opposed to 1-2 stamens and the acutely margined frs. Both spp. have been collected in the Waitaki Valley.
