7. Atriplex hortensis Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1053. 1753; Hook.f., l.c. 6; Stewart, l.c.218; Kom., l.c. 85; Aellen in Tutin et al., l.c. 96; Hedge, l.c. 68. (Fig. 12, G).
Vern.: Arroche or Mountain spinach.
Annual, 60-150 cm tall, erect, branched. Leaves alternate, petiolate, triangular, broadly hastate at base, entire or more rarely toothed, mostly taper-tipped, green on both sides. Flowers in spikes disposed in a leafless panicle; staminate 5-merous; pistillate of 2 sorts, some ebracteolate with a 5-partite perianth and without bracteoles, others without perianth but with a pair of bracteoles, these rounded-oval, entire, free; seeds of the former type horizontal, convex, black, lustrous, 1-2 mm in diameter, those of the latter vertical, flat, olivaceous brown, dull, 3-4 mm in diameter.
Type: Tataria, Orenburg steppe, Hortus Sicc. Cliff. (BM). McNeill et al. in Taxon 32: 552. 1983.
Distribution: C. and S. Europe, C. Asia , introduced or cultivated.
Cultivated in Hunza and Kashmir for the green leaves as a vegetable in spring (Stewart, l.c.).
