Description
Chenopodium album in North America is believed to consist consists of native and introduced varieties. In the Chesapeake Bay region, the introduced Eurasian variety is C. album var. album, while the native one is C. a. var. missouriense (Biota of North America Program 2001). Both probably occur in Chesapeake Bay's tidal wetlands (Brown and Brown 1984; Hill 1986).
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plantae | Magnoliophyta | Magnoliopsida | Caryophyllales | Chenopodiaceae | Chenopodium |
Synonyms
Invasion History
Chesapeake Bay Status
| First Record | Population | Range | Introduction | Residency | Source Region | Native Region | Vectors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1739 | Established | Stable | Cryptogenic | Boundary Resident | Europe | Eurasia | Shipping(Dry Ballast), Agriculture(Agricultural Weed) |
History of Spread
Chenopodium album (Lambs-Quarters) is now a cosmopolitan plant which grows wherever agriculture is practiced (Bassett and Crompton 1978a). North American plants are believed to consist of native and introduced varieties. In the Chesapeake Bay region, the introduced Eurasian variety is C. album var. album, while the native one is C. a. var. missouriense (Natural Resources Conservation Service 2001). Both probably occur in Chesapeake Bay's tidal wetlands, although the varieties are rarely specified (Brown and Brown 1984; Hill 1986). Chenopodium album is one of the world's most common agricultural weeds. The European variety, C. album var. album, was probably introduced with the beginning of European agriculture, but the history of its spread is unclear, given taxonomic confusion and the presence of native varieties (Bassett and Crompton 1978a).
Chenopodium album was collected by John Clayton in VA in the 1730s (Gronovius 1739; Reveal 1983), and found in early floras for Wasington (Brereton 1830) and Baltimore (Aikin 1837). It is widespread through the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992). Specific records for the intertidal zone are:
Upper Bay- North Point State Park (Edgemere)/MD/Back River (upper Chesapeake Bay) (Fofonoff, personal observations); Edgewater/MD/South River (Philipp and Brown 1965); Rose Haven (Anne Arundel County)/MD/Chesapeake Bay (Fofonoff, personal observations).
Potomac River- 'beach swales' King George County/VA/Potomac River (Simmons et al. 1995).
Adjacent Coast- salt marshes, Assateague Island- Hill (1986) reported C. a. ssp. missouriensis, but said that C. a. ssp. album 'may occur also'.
History References- Aikin 1837; Bassett and Crompton 1978a; Brereton 1830; Brown and Brown 1984; Gronovius 1739; Harvill et al. 1992; Hill 1986; Natural Resources Conservation Service 2001; Philipp and Brown 1965; Reveal 1983; Simmons et al. 1995
Invasion Comments
Ecology
Environmental Tolerances
| For Survival | For Reproduction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Maximum | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Temperature (ºC) | ||||
| Salinity (‰) | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Oxygen | ||||
| pH | ||||
| Salinity Range | fresh-poly |
Age and Growth
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Typical Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Maximum Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Maximum Longevity (yrs) | ||
| Typical Longevity (yrs |
Reproduction
| Start | Peak | End | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive Season | |||
| Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event |
|||
| Sexuality Mode(s) | |||
| Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction |
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| Fertilization Type(s) | |||
| More than One Reproduction Event per Year |
|||
| Reproductive Startegy | |||
| Egg/Seed Form |
Impacts
Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay
Chenopodium album (Lamb's-Quarters) is well-known as a garden and agricultural weed in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and elsewhere (Brown and Brown 1984; Shreve et al. 1910). However, it does not have known impacts in tidal regions of Chesapeake Bay.
References- Brown and Brown 1984; Shreve et al. 1910
Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay
Chenopodium album (Lamb's-Quarters) is well-known as a garden and agricultural weed (Agricultural Research Service 1971; Holm et al. 1977; Natural Resources Conservation Service 2001).
References- Agricultural Research Service 1971; Holm et al. 1977; Natural Resources Conservation Service 2001
Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species
Chenopodium album (Lamb's-Quarters) is well-known as an invader of disturbed soils (Bassett and Crompton 1978a) but does not have known impacts on native biota in intertidal habitats in the Chesapeake Bay region.
References- Bassett and Crompton 1978a
Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species
Chenopodium album (Lamb's-Quarters) is well-known as an invader of disturbed soils (Bassett and Crompton 1978a) but does not have known impacts on exotic biota in intertidal habitats in the Chesapeake Bay region.
References- Bassett and Crompton 1978a
References
Agricultural Research Service (1971) Common weeds of the United States., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp.Aikin, W. E. A. (1837) Catalogue of phenogamous plants and ferns, native or naturalized, growing in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland., Transactions of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and Literature 1: 55-91
Bassett, I. J.; Crompton, C. W. (1978b) Biology of Canadian Weeds. 32. Chenopodium album L., Canadian Journal of Plant Science 58: 1061-1072
2001 Invasive Species database search. http://invasivespecies.org/BONAP/namesearch.cfm
Brereton, J. A. (1830) Prodromus of the Flora Columbiana, , Washington, D.C.. Pp.
Brown, Melvin L.; Brown, Russell G. (1984) Herbaceous Plants of Maryland, , College Park. Pp.
Clemants, Steven E. (1992) Chenopodiaceae and Amaranthaceae of New York State, New York State Museum Bulletin 485: 1- 26
Dowhan, Joseph J.; Rozsa, Ron (1989) Flora of Fire Island, Suffolk County, New York, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 116: 265-282
Fernald, Merritt L. (1950) Gray's Manual of Botany, In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.
Gronovius, Johannes Fredericius (1739) Flora Virginica exhibens plantas quas V. C. Johannes Clayton in Virginia observavit atque collegit., , London. Pp.
Harvill, A. M.; Bradley, Ted R.; Stevens, Charles E.; Wieboldt, Thomas F.; Ware, Donna M. E.; Ogle, Douglas W.; Ramsey, Gwynn W.; Fleming, Gary P. (1992) Atlas of the Virginia Flora, , Burkeville, VA. Pp.
Hill, Steven R. (1986) An annotated checklist of the vascular flora of Assateague Island (Maryland and Virginia), Castanea 51: 265-305
Holm, Leroy G.; Plucknett, Donald L.; Pancho, Juan V.; Herberger, James P. (1977) The World's Worst Weeds - Distribution and Biology., In: (Eds.) . , Honolulu. Pp.
Kartesz, John T. (1994) A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland., In: (Eds.) . , Portland OR. Pp.
1997-2024 USDA PLANTS Database.. Onine databse
Philipp, Charles C.; Brown, Russell C. (1965) Ecological studies of transition-zone vascular plants in South River, Maryland, Chesapeake Science 6: 73-81
Reveal, James L. (1983) Significance of pre-1753 botanical explorations in temperate North America on Linnaeus' first edition of Species Plantarum, Phytologia 53: 1-96
Shreve, Forrest M.; Chrysler, M. A.; Blodgett, Frederck H.; Besley, F. W. (1910) The Plant Life of Maryland, , Baltmore. Pp.
Simmons, Mark P.; Ware, Donna M.; Hayden, W. John (1995) The vascular flora of the Potomac River watershed of King George County, Virginia, Castanea 60: 179-209