Botanical Context for Domestication in North America

Pitseed goosefoot, Chenopodium berlandieri Moq., is a widespread allotetraploid weed having 2n = 4x = 36 (AABB subgenomes) found throughout North America from Mexico to Alaska. It is a critical genetic resource for adaptive improvement of its South American cousin and descendant, quinoa (C. quinoa Willd.). It has also been important in its own right at various times throughout history and prehistory, having been domesticated at least twice in the Americas north of the Isthmus of Panama. Botanically, C. berlandieri belongs to Section Chenopodium Subsection Cellulata along with its allotetraploid allies C. quinoa, weedy South American C. hircinum Schrad., and a complex of putative A-genome diploids concentrated in the semiarid southwestern region of North America. This chapter reviews the botanical and ecological context of C. berlandieri and its potential as a genetic resource for improving quinoa.