Chenopod Shrubs

20 Chapter Chenopod plants (Family Chenopodiaceae) are distributed worldwide but are especially prominent in some wet and dry saline or alkaline situations. Chenopods are both herbaceous and woody. The relative proportions of life-forms in the family is demonstrated by data from the important center of chenopod diversity in south-central Asia, where n = 341 species: 76 percent are herbaceous (mostly annual), 23 percent are shrubs or sub-shrubs, and 1 percent is arborescent (McArthur and Sanderson 1984; Shishkin 1936). Chenopod shrubs grow over wide expanses of Intermountain rangelands as well as on large saline and alkaline tracts on all continents, except Antarctica. In the Inter-mountain area, seven genera (table 1) with 28 species make important contributions to the landscapes or to revegetation needs. As a group the chenopod shrubs exhibit the ability to grow in low fertility, salt-bearing soils as well as on more favorable sites. Their presence is essential for maintaining a stable soil in many xeric environments where soil is too salty or dry for most other classes of plants to live (Blauer and others 1976; Goodall 1982; Sanderson and Stutz 1994b; Wilkins and Klopatek 1984). Cheno-pod shrubs grow well in high concentrations of calcium and potassium salts and can endure considerable concentrations of Chenopod Shrubs