TQ(51)98
TL(52)92
TM(62)02
TM(62)03
The Scarce Plants of Essex. Part 2.
Near Shoebury Christopher Parsons
Bergholt Heath, Ezekiel Varenne
Bromley Heath, William H Coleman
Langham Moor, William H Coleman
Chenopodium (botryocles) chenopodioides (L.J Aellen
Status in Essex; Native.
Saltmarsh goosefoot Plate 12
Saltmarsh goosefoot is another species that has recently been transferred to the British Red Data Book
(1 Vascular Plants. 3rd edition 1999), having only been recorded from 13 hectads nationally since
1970, with no records from a further 23 squares in which it formerly occurred. It seems likely however
that rather than signalling a drastic decline, in many cases, as it can be difficult to identify at certain
times of the year, it has just been overlooked. A central and south European taxon, that is very similar
to C. rubrum, and is often confused with its var. pseudobotryodes, but it is generally smaller, with the
triangular leaves having only the basal lobes well developed, and the tepals of the lateral fruits fused to
near the apex, as well as being distinctly keeled in the upper part (c.f. C. rubrum, where they are free to
less than halfway, and not or scarcely keeled). Large plants arc often confused with C. rubrum (2n=36),
(with which it frequently grows), and small plants of C. rubrum are mistaken for C. chenopodioides
(2n=18). Only found since 1970 at one site in Norfolk, otherwise only apparently known from Essex
and Kent. Jermyn (1974) says that it occurs in drained marshes of the estuarine areas and prefers
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)