196 



of the plants of this family is the anomalous development of the stem 

 in which secondary cambiums arise producing additional vascular 

 bundles at the periphery of those originally formed. In the pericycle 

 of the stem occur isolated groups of sclerenchymatous fibers. A 

 great variety of forms of non-glandular hairs occur. Glandular 

 hairs are rare except in a few genera, including Chenopodium, in 

 which they consist of a series of superimposed cells the terminal cell 

 of which is always glandular. Another rather interesting feature of 

 this family is the presence in Atriplex and Chenopodium of bladder- 

 like hairs for the storing of water. 



CHENOPODIUM. American Wormseed. The dried ripe fruit of 

 Chenopodium ambrosioides anthelminticum (L.) Gray, an annual 

 or perennial herb growing in waste places throughout the United 

 States. The plant flowers from July until September and its fruits 

 ripen in the autumn, at which time they are gathered. Most of our 

 supplies come from Florida. 



The fruit was at one time official but it has been replaced by its 

 volatile oil. Considerable interest has been revived in this drug 

 owing to the European war, which curtailed the supply of thymol and 

 which has been used almost as a specific in the treatment of the hook- 

 worm disease. The oil of Chenopodium has fortunately been found 

 to possess properties that make it a valuable substitute for thymol 

 as a vermifuge. The plant is cultivated in Maryland for the dis- 

 tillation of the oil, and the oil distilled here is known commercially 

 as Baltimore Oil of Chenopodium. 



Description. Somewhat globular, frequently more or less com- 

 pressed, occasionally with portions of a short stem; from 0.75 to 

 1.5 mm. in diameter; pericarp inflated, greenish-brown, thin and 

 friable; seeds reddish-brown or brownish-black, ellipsoidal, somewhat 

 reniform, nearly smooth and shining; odor aromatic, distinct; 

 taste pungent and bitter. 



Powder. Yellowish-brown; fragments of membranous pericarp 

 composed of elongated, colorless and thin-walled cells; seeds blackish 

 shiny, reniform, about 0.150 mm. in diameter; seed-coat with polyg- 

 onal, thin-walled reddish-brown pigment cells; numerous starch 

 grains and small aleurone grains. 



Constituents. From 0.6 to 1 per cent of a nearly colorless or 

 yellowish volatile oil, having the odor and taste of the drug. It 

 consists of 45 to 70 per cent of an oxygenated compound, Ascaridol; 

 22 per cent of p-Cymol; also a terpene and d-camphor. The leaves 

 yield 0.35 per cent of volatile oil, and the fresh plant contains a 

 white, crystalline inodorous alkaloid, Chenopodine. 



