1 Leaves opposite, reduced to scales a few mm long, clasping and appressed against the succulent stem; flowers in groups of 3, sunken into the stem; [subfamily Salicornioideae].

1 Leaves alternate, not reduced to scales; flowers not sunken into the stem.

..2 Fruit enclosed and concealed by paired accrescent bracteoles (these usually deltoid, diamond-shaped, or ovoid); [subfamily Chenopodioideae].

....3 Leaves pale green to silvery green; stigmas 2; plants without basal leaves, the stems freely and rather divergently branched; [native or introduced, primarily in saline situations]; [tribe Atripliceae]

....3 Leaves bright to dark green; stigmas 4-5; plants with basal leaves, the flowering stems erect, strict or with ascending branches in the inflorescence; [introduced, frequently cultivated as a garden vegetable, rarely escaped]; [tribe Spinacieae]

..2 Fruit enclosed by the persistent calyx.

......4 Leaves sessile, linear (linear to lanceolate in Corispermum), entire, succulent or not.

........5 Leaves not spine-tipped.

..........6 Leaves glabrous; [subfamily Suaedoideae]

..........6 Leaves pubescent to villous; [subfamily Camphorosmoideae].

............ 7 Calyx segments (all 5) bearing a horizontal wing or hooked spines

............ 7 Calyx segments (1 lower and 2 upper) bearing stout knobs

......4 Leaves petiolate, lanceolate or wider, the larger leaves generally toothed, not succulent or only slightly so.

............ ..8 Fruit dehiscent; ovary half-inferior; roots usually enlarged; [subfamily Betioideae]

............ ..8 Fruit indehiscent; ovary superior; roots not enlarged; [subfamily Chenopodioideae].

............ ....9 Fruiting calyx winged horizontally

............ ....9 Fruiting calyx not winged, the lobes flat, keeled, or hooded.

............ ......10 Plants aromatic, leaves and perianth with stalked glandular hairs and/or subsessile glands

............ ......10 Plants non-aromatic (but sometimes fetid), vesicular hairy (farinose) or glabrous.

............ ........11 Inflorescences in dichasial or monochasial loose cymes; plants glabrous or glabrescent

............ ........11 Inflorescences spicately or paniculately arranged dense glomerules with few to many flowers; plants either farinose (at least when young) or glabrous.

............ ..........12 Stems unbranched or sparingly branched; basal leaves often forming a rosette; perianth often changed to succulent or hardened in fruit, sometimes reduced to 1 lobe; stigmas 2-4; seeds vertical in the fruit

............ ..........12 Stem usually branched; basal leaves not in a rosette; perianth unchanged in fruit, not reduced; stigmas 2 (-3), seeds vertical and/or horizontal in the fruit.

............ ............ 13 Flowers often dimorphic, in lateral flowers perianth segments 3 (-5), seeds either vertical or horizontal in the fruit; stamens 1-3

............ ............ 13 Flowers not dimorphic, perianth segments 5, seeds exclusively horizontal in the fruit; stamens almost always 5.

............ ............ ..14 Young stems and leaves not farinose (with vesicular trichomes that become totally collapsed when dry, and are caducous and therefore rarely present at maturity); perianth segments with prominent midvein visible inside; seeds distinctly pitted to sometimes rugulose or almost smooth

............ ............ ..14 Young stems and leaves densely farinose (covered with vesicular globose trichomes that become cup-shaped when dry and are mostly persistent at maturity); perianth segments without prominent midvein visible inside; seeds smooth or striate and somewhat rugulose, sometimes pitted