Chenopodium benthamii facts for kids

Chenopodium benthamii is a type of shrub that only grows in the middle-west part of Western Australia. It's also known by its old name, Rhagodia latifolia. This plant is special because it's found nowhere else in the world!

What It Looks Like

This plant is a shrub, which means it's a bushy plant smaller than a tree. It can grow from about 40 centimeters (like a ruler) up to two meters tall (taller than most kids!). Its leaves feel a bit like leather and are shaped like an oval. When it blooms, it has green flowers that grow in clusters called panicles.

How It Got Its Name

Scientists give plants and animals special names. This plant's journey to its current name is quite interesting!

• In 1870, a scientist named George Bentham first described this plant. He thought it was a type of Rhagodia crassifolia. He studied a plant sample found on Dirk Hartog Island by Allan Cunningham.
• Later, in 1983, another scientist named Paul G. Wilson decided it was different enough to be its own species.
• Even more recently, in 2012, new research showed that this plant actually belonged in a different group, called the Chenopodium genus. They tried to name it Chenopodium latifolium.
• However, that name was already used for a different plant! When two different plants have the same name, it's called a "homonym," and one of the names has to change.
• So, in 2017, scientists Iamonico and Mosyakin gave it the new name Chenopodium benthamii. They chose this name to honor George Bentham, the scientist who first described it so long ago!

Where It Lives

Chenopodium benthamii grows along the coast in the middle-west of Western Australia. You can find it in places like sandy dunes near the ocean or on limestone cliffs. Its home stretches from a town called Geraldton northwards to the Murchison River.