English: Strawberry blite; Blite goosefoot; Strawberry goosefoot; Strawberry spinach; Indian paint; Indian ink.
Synonym:
Chenopodium capitatum.
genus: 12 species.
Region: North America; parts of Europe.
Habitat: moist mountain valleys.
Content: vitamins A and C; oxalates, toxic in large amounts.
Use: potherb; edible; fruit juice as a red dye.
BotanyHerb; annual; non-aromatic; glabrous, or covered with stipitate vesicular hairs; young plants may be sticky.
Stem: several erect, ascending or prostrate stems, unbranched or sparsely branched.
Leaves: alternate; petiole and a simple blade; basal leaves are often long-petiolate and forming a rosette; blade is thin oder slightly fleshy, and may be triangular, triangular-hastate, triangular-lanceolate, or spathulate, with entire to dentate margins.
Inflorescences: spicately arranged compact glomerules of flowers, ebracteate or in the axils of small leaf-like bracts.
Flowers: bisexual or pistillate; 3 to 5 herbaceous, unkeeled perianth segments, connate only at base or nearly to the middle, sometimes missing; stamens 1 to 5, in a circle; ovary with 2 to 4 stigmas.
Fruit: small; pulpy; bright red; resembling strawberries, taste is more bland; the perianth becomes either succulent or dry and hard; pericarp is membranous and usually adhering to the vertically orientated, broadly ovate to orbicular seed.
Seeds: small, ± 1 mm long; black; lens-shaped; coat is dark brown to black, surface can be dull, almost smooth, slightly striate, rugulose, or reticulate.
TaxonomyBlitium was traditionally placed in the genera Chenopodium, Monolepis, or Scleroblitum. Phylogenetic research revealed, that Blitium, Monolepis and Scleroblitum are more closely related to Spinacia. Together they are grouped into tribe Anserineae.