Flora of North America species comparison

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Spinacia

spinach
Habit Herbs, annual or biennial, monoecious, glabrous.
Stems

erect, not branched, not jointed, not armed, not fleshy.
Leaves

basal or alternate, petiolate;

blade triangular-hastate to ovate, sometimes with elongated lobes, margins entire or dentate, apex acute.
Inflorescences

pistillate flowers sessile in leaf axils;

staminate flowers in dense terminal spikes.
Flowers

unisexual, rarely bisexual;

staminate flowers with perianth segments 4–5, stamens 4–5;

pistillate flowers enclosed by 2 accrescent or connate bracts, perianth absent, stigmas 4–5.
Seeds

vertical, seed coat dark, spiny or smooth; hardened bracteoles serving as seed coat;

embryo annular;

perisperm copious.
Fruiting

structures enlarged and hardened bracteoles enclosing achenes;

pericarp adherent.
x

= 6.

Spinacia
Distribution
from USDA
Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 3 (1 in the flora).

The chromosome base number of six is unusual in the Chenopodiaceae. B. L. Turner (1994b) suggested that members with a base of nine, the most common number in the family, may be derived.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 302. Author: Leila M. Shultz.
Parent taxa Chenopodiaceae
Subordinate taxa
S. oleracea
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1027. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 452. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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