OHXNOPODIACEAS (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY) 



109 



branched, and very leafy. Leaves 



oblong to lance-shaped, one to three 



inches long, smooth, wavy-toothed or 



nearly entire, especially the upper 



ones, which are pointed at both ends 



and sessile or with very short petioles. 



Flowers in dense terminal and axil- 

 lary spikes, intermixed with small 



leaves ; calyx green, its five lobes 



completely enclosing the small, 



black, flattened seed. (Fig. 66.) 



Occupying 

 the same range 

 is a closely re- 

 lated plant, 

 commonly 

 called Worm- 

 seed (C. am- 

 brosioides, var. 

 anthelminticum, 

 Gray), differ- 

 ing chiefly in FlG - 66. Mexican Tea (Cheno- 

 i . . | podium ambrosioides) . X J. 



being perennial 



in latitudes where the ground does not 

 freeze in winter ; also, it is a larger, more 

 strongly-scented plant, with more coarsely 

 toothed leaves, two to five inches long and 

 its flowering spikes often lacking the small, 

 entire, sessile leaves that are intermingled 

 with the flowers of Mexican Tea. Both 

 plants are used in medicine as anthelmintics, 

 and the seeds, from which the essential oil is 

 usually distilled, are salable in the drug market 

 for six to eight cents a pound. (Fig. 67.) 



FIG. 67. Wormseed Means of control 

 (Chenopodium ambro- . . ... . .. 



sioides var. anthelminti- Close cutting or hand-pulling while in 

 cum), x j. early bloom. 



