Chenopodium murale

Nettle-leaf Goosefoot at The Fair, Watson

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Identification history

Chenopodium murale	17 May 2024	abread111
Chenopodium album	16 May 2024	abread111
Chenopodiastrum murale	15 May 2024	SteveBorkowskis
Unidentified	15 May 2024	SteveBorkowskis

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Significant sighting

abread111 noted:

28 May 2024

First record of this species on CNM and only second one for the ACT known to the Herbarium

User's notes

GPS was wrong on one of the photos, have adjusted to correct location 35.22768° S, 149.17203° E

10 comments

abread111 wrote:

16 May 2024

VicFlora uses seed characters to distinguish between C. album and C. murale
Seed acutely keeled around equator, dull, finely pitted; pericarp persistent C. murale
Seed obtuse around equator, shining, smooth; pericarp easily detached from seed C. album
There was another plant in the area identified as C. album recently - see Chenopodium album (Fat Hen), which clearly had hairs on the underside of the leaves. PlantNet uses the hairs as a distinguishing feature as well as the seed.
So maybe your sighting is C. murale as I cannot see hairs anywhere, only the occasional white fleck which could be a hair.

waltraud wrote:

17 May 2024

C album is around see Chenopodium album (Fat Hen)

abread111 wrote:

17 May 2024

Yes, I know - cited it in my comment above -link somehow got lost. But C. murale is not on our flora list or the Census. So I think I had better go find this plant and get a sample.
I did this and am now confident that it is C. murale, no hairs anywhere, looked at seeds which are grey and match those shown in VicFlora. Will put up some more photos, and take sample to Herbarium and I am pressing one plant in case the Herbarium wants one.
So well done Steve - a new species for Mt M, and possibly for the ACT!

SteveBorkowskis wrote:

17 May 2024

Thanks Barbara, I’m interested to see what the herbarium comes back with. I thought perhaps it might be C. album growing in an unusual way in the sheltered high nutrient area beneath the Exocarpos, but it was quite different to any C. album I’ve seen before, the ‘nettle-like’ appearance and the more exaggerated toothed margins to the leaves seemed more like C. murale.

abread111 wrote:

18 May 2024

I have found there is one record for C. murale from Canberra in ALA from 2019, maps to a paddock between Whitlam and Kama, has herbarium number CANB 916167.1 and was collected from a sheep camp area.
And there is another one from Scottsdale Conservation Reserve at Bredbo collected by Rosemary Purdie in 2012 CANB 808719.1

abread111 wrote:

Yesterday

"I am writing to confirm your ID of Chenopodium murale"
Helen Kennedy
Identifications and Living Collections Botanist | Australian National Herbarium
Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research

Tapirlord wrote:

Yesterday

I take the point, but I'm not sure I would've listed this as being particularly significant; there are lots of images on CNM which would be candidates for significance under the category proposed. I would tend toward only listing 'firsts' if they are endemic or serious weeds elsewhere.

abread111 wrote:

Yesterday

OK, but a ranger finding a species new to CNM is rather special.

waltraud wrote:

9 hrs ago

I'm not sure about the criteria for significance, however "significance" can't be related to the person who finds & records an item (ranger or not)......

abread111 wrote:

6 hrs ago

OK, I certainly agree with your comment, Waltraud, and the criteria I use for significance do not include the person who made the sighting. But I am not sure I agree with Tapirlord's tendency to only include "firsts" for plants which are endemic or known to be serious weeds elsewhere.
With 2779 plants listed on CNM as of today, I think any new plant in the bush is significant after more than a decade of recording plants on CNM and importing records from prior surveys. The same may not apply to other categories of organisms with a shorter history on CNM or to more mobile species.
Giving a new plant significance means regular CNM users are alerted to it, and it may be found to be more widespread or important than initially thought.
Let's try to avoid more instances like inkweed where just a few years after the first recorded sighting in the ACT, we now have had an infestation of 1000s of plants and a lot of effort is needed to survey for it in our reserves.

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