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4 Taxonomy

4.1 Introduction

Chenopodium, commonly known as pigweed or goosefoot, includes a wide array of species and is native to all the inhabited continents as well as far-flung archipelagos like Juan Fernandez, New Zealand and Hawaii (Jellen et al., 2011). The genus Chenopodium sensu lato was formerly in the family Chenopodiaceae but phylogenetic revision has merged the Chenopodiaceae and Amaranthaceae under the name Amaranthaceae (APG, 1998). The species are mostly colonizing herbaceous annuals occupying large areas in the Americas, Asia and Europe, though some are also suffrutescent (sect. Ambrina) and arborescent perennials (sect. Skottsbergia) (Wilson, 1990; Bhargava et al., 2005). Most of the annual members of the genus show a series of complex adaptive modifications associated with breeding system, dispersal and germination that allow occupation of disturbed areas in otherwise prime habitat (Wilson, 1990; Bhargava et al., 2007). These ecological specializations represent a strong, positive preadaptive syndrome for exploitation of global disturbance associated with the relatively recent development and spread of agriculture (Wilson, 1990). However, as compared with other plants of dry environments, they lack typical adaptations like Kranz type leaf anatomy and the C₄