25. Chenopodiaceae.—Goosefoot family.

Botanical name: 

Weed-like herbs, with minute greenish flowers; ovary 2-styled, 1-celled, becoming a 1-seeded thin utricle or caryopsis. Generally bland and innocent.


125. CHENOPODIUM.—AMERICAN WORMSEED. The fruit of Chenopo'dium ambro'sioi'des Linné, and variety anthelmin'ticum Gray. Off. U.S.P. 1890 A small, irregularly globular, seed-like fruit (utricle) not larger than a pin-head and of a grayish-yellow or brownish color. By rubbing the minute grains (fruit) in the hands, the capsular covering to the seeds is broken off, when the shining, lenticular, blackish seeds appear and a peculiar, strong, terebinthinate odor is rendered sensible. Taste pungent and bitter. The variety Anthelminticum gives a similar fruit, but is more aromatic. Constituents: Its medical properties depend upon a volatile oil, 3.5 per cent. (125a), in which it, as well as all the other parts of the plant, abounds. Anthelmintic. Dose; 15 to 30 gr. (1 to 2 Gm.).

125a. OLEUM CHENOPODII, U.S.—OIL OF CHENOPODIUM. A thin, yellowish, volatile oil, turning darker or brownish by age, having the peculiar odor and taste of the fruit. It is composed of a hydrocarbon and a heavier oil. Dose: 4 to 8 drops (0.25 to 0.50 mil).


A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.