Chenopodium album Fat-hen

A very common, variable annual of cultivated places and ruderal habitats, gardens, allotments  manure hepas and often as a weed of arable crops and particularly in potato fields, invariably in nutrient rich soils. It varies in its stature, the shape of its leaves which are usually somewhat rhomboidal and the amount of meal on its shoots. A number of varieties, subspecies and segregates have been described and it also hybridises with other Chenopodium species, e.g. Chenopodium ficifolium. All this can make identification confusing and some authorities believe it is best regarded as an aggregate os species, i.e. Chenopodium album agg. It is a lowland species in West Glamorgan, common on arable land in Gower and mostly a plant of waste places, farmyards and disturbed ground  elsewhere. The foliage is edible and it has been cultivated in the past.

Native

The status of named segregates of Chenopodium album in West Glamorgan, such as Chenopodium quinoa, Chenopodium opulifolium, Chenopodium strictum, Chenopodium suecicum, Chenopodium probstii and Chenopdium giganteum, is not clear.