Species name :

Chenopodium album subsp. albumL.
Published in Sp. Pl. 219 (1753)

Synonyms :
(basionym or principal syn.)

Chenopodium viride L.

Full list of synonyms : [Euro+Med] [PlantList] [IPNI] [POWO] [Catalogue of Life ]

Plant Family :

Amaranthaceae Juss. (The Amaranth Family)
42 species from the Amaranthaceae family are recorded from the Maltese Islands.

English name(s) :

Fat Hen, Lambsquarters

Maltese name(s) :

Għobbejra Bajdanija

Status for Malta :

Species that was introduced in Malta after year 1492 and spreads to form established, non-invasive populations. It may become become invasive if it widespreads rapidly.

Frequency :

Very Common     Common     Frequent     Scarce     Rare     Very rare     Extinct

Growth form :

Raunkiaer lifeform [info]: THEROPHYTE (annuals)
Germination [info]: Dicotyledon

Legal Protection [link]:

Not Protected by Law (LN200/2011 or LN311/2006)

Red List (1989) :

Not listed in the Red Data Book of the Maltese Islands

Flowering Time :

Jun-Oct

Colour of Flowers:

Inconspicuous

Habitat in Europe:

Data will be available in the next update of this website.

Preferred habitat in Malta:

Wasteground and disturbed areas

Botanical Description:

Annual 10-150 cm, usually erect, more or less grey-farinose; stems green or red. Leaves 1-8 x 0.3-5.5 cm, very variable, rhombic-ovate to lanceolate, mostly at least 1½ times as long as wide, entire or shallowly dentate, sometimes more or less 3-lobed. Sepals weakly keeled. Seeds 1.2-1.6(-1.85) mm in diameter, obtusely margined; testa usually marked with faint, radial furrows or (var. reticulatum (Aellen) Uotila) a reticulate pattern, otherwise almost smooth.

Chromosome number:

2n=?36, 54

Distributional range:

Most of Europe

Distributional map in Europe
and the Mediterranean region (2018):

Occurrences in Europe.
(from Flora Europaea pre year 1993):

All Europe except Svalbard archipelago, introduced in Faroe Islands, and Iceland

Occurrences in Europe and the Mediterranean region.
(Euro+Med Checklist, 2017) - Country codes

Ab(A N) AE Ag Al Ar Au(A L) Az(C F G J L M P S T) Be(L) BH Bl(M N) Br Bu By dCa(C F G H L P T) Cg Co Cr Ct Cy Da Eg Es Fe Ga(F) Ge Gg(G) Gr Hb(E) He Ho Hs(A G S) Hu Ir It Jo La Le Li Lt Lu Ma Md(M P) Mk Mo No Po Rf(C CS E K N NW S) Rm Sa Si(M S) Sl Sn Sr Su Tn Tu(A E) Uk(K U) [nAz(C F G J L M P S T) Es aFa nIs nPo Rf(A N) aSb aUk(U)]