Quinoa (White). Law

White-seeded Quinoa. Goose-foot. Chenopodium quinoa.

An annual plant from Mexico or Peru. Its stem is five or six feet in height, erect and branching; the leaves are triangular, obtusely toothed on the borders, pale-green, mealy while young, and comparatively smooth when old; flowers whitish, very small, produced in compact clusters; seeds small, yellowish-white, round, a little flattened, about a line in diameter, and, on a cursory glance, might be mistaken for those of millet; they retain their vegetative powers three years; about twelve thousand are contained in an ounce.

Sowing and Cultivation.—It is propagated from seeds which are sown in April or May, in shallow drills three feet apart. As the seedlings increase in size, they are gradually thinned to a foot apart in the rows. The seeds ripen in September. In good soil, the plants grow vigorously, and produce seeds and foliage in great abundance.

Use.—The leaves are used as Spinach or Sorrel, or as greens. In some places, the seeds are employed as a substitute for corn or wheat in the making of bread, and are also raised for feeding poultry.

Varieties.—

Black-Seeded Quinoa.

The stalks of this variety are more slender, and the leaves smaller, than those of the White-seeded. The plant is also stained with brownish-red in all its parts. Seeds small, grayish-black.

It is sown, and in all respects treated, like the White. The seeds and leaves are used in the same manner.

Red-Seeded Quinoa. Law.

Chenopodium sp.

This variety, or perhaps, more properly, species, is quite distinct from the White-seeded. It grows to the height of six or eight feet, and even more, with numerous long, spreading branches. The leaves are more succulent than those of the last named, and are produced in greater abundance. When sown at the same time, it ripens its seeds nearly a month later.

Its foliage and seeds are used for the same purposes as the White. Sow in rows three feet apart, and thin to fifteen inches in the rows.