CHENOPODIACEJE. (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY.) 379 
pointed , angled with a few large and distant pointed teeth , green both 
sides ; racemes loosely panicled , spreading , leafless; calyx-lobes keeled 
in fruit; seed dotted, opaque, the margins acutish. — Common; the 
odor heavy, like Stramonium. 
5. AMBBINA, Spach. Worm-seed. 
Flowers perfect, with nearly the same characters as in Cheno- 
podium, but the seed either vertical or horizontal, and the embryo 
not coiled completely into a ring, but forming about two thirds of 
a circle: styles often 3. — Glandular and often pubescent herbs 
(never mealy), exhaling an aromatic or balsamic odor. (Etymol¬ 
ogy unexplained.) 
1. A. Botrys, Moquin. (Jerusalem Oak.) Annual, ascend¬ 
ing; leaves oblong, obtuse, sinuate-pinnatifld, the upper spatulate- 
lanceolate ; racemes cymose-panicled , divergent , leafless; calyx-lobes 
not keeled; seed horizontal, smooth, with an obtuse margin; styles 
2. (Chenopodium, L.) —Dry soil, road-sides, &c., introduced? Aug. 
— Pleasant-scented. 
2. A* anthelmintic;!, Spach. (Wormseed.) Perennial , 
erect; leaves ovate-oblong, narrowed at the base into a petiole, coarse¬ 
ly and unequally cut-toothed or sinuate ; racemes elongated and spike¬ 
like, slender , leafless; calyx-lobes not keeled ; seed horizontal, smooth, 
rounded on the margin. (Chenopodium, L.) — Road-sides, Connecti¬ 
cut and westward, rare, except at the South. July. — Plant 2° high, 
very strong-scented: the seeds yield the well-known vermifuge call¬ 
ed Worm-seed oil. 
3. A. amhrosioides, Spach. (Mexican Tea.) Annual , 
erect, much branched; leaves oblong, narrowed at the base into a pe¬ 
tiole, remotely sinuate-toothed, the upper oblong-linear and entire; 
racemes leafy , dense; calyx-lobes somewhat keeled ; seed (vertical or 
horizontal?) smooth, obtuse on the margin. (Chenopodium, L.) — 
Road-sides, common from New York southward, introduced? Aug. 
6. BLITUM, Tourn. Blite. 
Flowers perfect, bractless. Calyx 3 - 5-parted, becoming juicy 
and berry-like in fruit, or unchanged, and inclosing the compress¬ 
ed fruit. Stamens 1-2. Styles 2, united. Seed vertical, com¬ 
pressed-globular; the embryo coiled into a ring perfectly encir¬ 
cling the albumen. — Nearly smooth annuals, with petioled trian¬ 
gular or halbert-shaped sinuate-toothed leaves, and mostly capi¬ 
tate-clustered flowers. (The ancient Greek and Latin name of 
some insipid pot-herb.) 
