Contemporary Circumscription Compared with A Utah Flora 4th ed.

Bio430

Chenopodiaceae

Many classifications are now placing Chenopodiaceae in Amaranthaceae, in part on the basis of molecular data, even though the molecular data is not strong.  The two families are undoubtedly closely related, but some data suggest another route to maintaining monophyletic families would be to split Chenopodiaceae into two families with Amaranthaceae maintained as a distinct family.  In either case, Sarcobatus is not as closely related to either family as previously thought, and is best  placed in its own family, Sarcobataceae.

Key Features

Plants not particularly showy vegetatively or reproductively; leaves variously succulent, scurfy, or mealy in some fashion depicting an adaptation to dry environments; plants tolerant of high alkaline and/or saline soils.  Flowers small, inconspicuous, mostly green and lacking petals.