Strawberry blite (''Blitum capitatum'', syn. ''Chenopodium capitatum'') is an edible

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical ...

, also known as blite

goosefoot ''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifica ...

, strawberry goosefoot, strawberry spinach, Indian paint, and Indian ink. It is native to most of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, including northern areas. It is considered to be endangered in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It is also found in parts of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Fruit are small, pulpy, bright red and edible, resembling strawberries, though their taste is more bland. The juice from the fruit was also used as a red dye by native North Americans. The fruits contain small, black, lens-shaped seeds that are 0.7–1.2 mm long. The greens contain vitamins A and C; they are edible raw when young or as a

potherb Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad gre ...

. If raw they should be eaten in moderation as they contain oxalates. The seeds may be toxic in large amounts. Strawberry blite is found in moist mountain valleys.

References

Susy Fuentes-Bazan, Pertti Uotila, Thomas Borsch: ''A novel phylogeny-based generic classification for Chenopodium sensu lato, and a tribal rearrangement of Chenopodioideae (Chenopodiaceae)''. In: ''Willdenowia'' 42, 2012, S. 17.

Sources

*
Global Biodiversity Information
via archive.org *Britton, Nathaniel Lord and Brown, Addison "An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada, and the British Possessions", published by C. Scribner's Sons, 1913. *United States National Museum "Contributions from the United States National Herbarium", published by Government Printing Office, 1890. *Von Mueller, Ferdinand "Select Extra-tropical Plants Readily Eligible for Industrial Culture Or Naturalization", published by G.S. Davis, 1884. *Coulter, John Merle and Nelson, Aven "New Manual of Botany of the Central Rocky Mountains (vascular Plants)", published by American Book Company, 1909.

External links

USDA Plants Profile for ''Chenopodium capitatum'' (blite goosefoot)
— formerly ''Blitum capitatum''. * — formerly ''Blitum capitatum''.

— formerly ''Blitum capitatum''. * — formerly ''Blitum capitatum''. * * capitatum Flora of Canada Flora of the Eastern United States Flora of the Western United States Flora of California Leaf vegetables Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Amaranthaceae-stub