Blitum polymorphum C. A. Meyer, p.p.; B. rubrum (Linnaeus) Reichenbach.

Herbs annual, 30-80 cm tall. Stem erect or obliquely spreading, light green or reddish, obscurely striate, ribbed, glabrous; upper branches usually 2-8 cm. Leaf blade green or often red tinged on both surfaces, ovate to rhombic-ovate, 4-8 × 2-6 cm, 3-5 × as long as petiole, succulent, adaxially slightly farinose to subglabrous, base cuneate, margin serrate-dentate to lobed, rarely entire, apex acuminate; teeth in 3-5 pairs, triangular, unequal, usually slightly incurved, apex subobtuse. Flowers bisexual and female, several per glomerule, arranged in spikelike panicles on upper branches. Perianth segments 3 or 4(or 5), green, often becoming red at maturity, obovate, abaxially slightly fleshy at center, adaxially concave, remaining unchanged in fruit, glabrous or slightly farinose. Stigmas 2, very short. Pericarp membranous, whitish, not adnate to seed. Seed vertical, oblique, or horizontal, red-black to black, globose or broadly ovoid, slightly depressed, 0.75-1 mm in diam., distinctly oblong pitted, rim margin obtuse. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Chenopodium gubanovii Sukhorukov (Feddes Repert. 110: 493. 1999) was recently described from the Mongolian Altay Mountains and reported from NE Kazakhstan, W Mongolia, and Russia (Altay and Tuva). Judging from its known distribution pattern, this species can be expected in NW Xinjiang. It differs from C. rubrum in having leaf blades broadly ovate to rhombic-ovate, almost entire at the margin; perianth segments oblanceolate, enlarged and distinctly keeled in fruit; and seeds with an acute rim margin. In general habit this taxon resembles C. chenopodioides, but evidently differs in the aforementioned perianth and seed characters.

Slightly saline-alkaline places. N Gansu, W Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Xinjiang [C and SW Asia, Europe, North America; naturalized in other regions].