In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

The usual English name is red goosefoot. I'd restrict fathen to the
Chenopodium album aggregate. (Floras restrict the name to Chenopodium
album, but since the rest of the aggregate is rather difficult to
identify - all I can manage is fig-leaved goosefoot and maybe quinoa - I
expect that in practice the name is applied to the aggregate.)

If it passes the duck test ....

If anyone is interested, almost all of those are good eating (and not
just edible) as spinach alternatives and when flowering or when seeds
are just developing as 'broccolis'. A pain to pick, because they are
all small, and it's a little surprising that fat hen doesn't seem to
have been adopted as a cultivated plant. Quinoa, magenta spreen and
a few others are cultivated, mainly in south America, and I have
grown and eaten a few.

The seeds are edible, too, but I found them to be mostly husk. I don't
know how to remove that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.