202 THE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE PHILIPPINES 



downward in a long spike bearing many flowerets. Calyx, 5 

 tough scales. Corolla wanting. Nectary much smaller than 

 the calyx, monophyllous, 5-lobed. Stamens 5. Ovary top- 

 shaped, upper part somewhat concave. Style same length as 

 stamens. Stigma coarse, bifid. Fruit, a seed covered with 2 

 membranes, one enveloping it completely, the outer one adher- 

 ent in only one part. 



HABiTAT.-^Common in Luzon. Blooms in November. 



CHENOPODIACEJE. 



Goosefoot Family. 

 Chenopodium ambrosioides, L. 



NOM. VULG. Alpasotes, Sp.-Fil.; Pasotis, Apasotis, Tag.; 

 American Worm-seed, Mexican Tea, Eng. 



USES. This plant is a native of Mexico. It has a peculiar, 

 somewhat offensive odor and an acrid, aromatic taste due to 

 an essential oil resembling peppermint (?). According to Padre 

 Mercado, " When the seeds are taken with wine, sensation is so 

 dulled that the drinker may be whipped without feeling the 

 lashes, and even if put to the torment, does not feel it." These 

 properties, if true, make this plant one of the most useful in the 

 Philippines. The entire plant is stimulant. The infusion, 

 given internally, causes sweating, excites the circulation, is 

 diuretic, tonic, stomachic, and useful as well as an antispas- 

 modic in nervous troubles. The leaves are employed in making 

 the infusion, 8 grams to 200 of boiling water. It is widely used 

 in bronchial catarrhs and in asthma on account of its sudorific 

 and expectorant action. It seems also to possess emmenagogue 

 properties. The seeds yield on distillation a yellow essential 

 oil with a strong and disagreeable odor, density 0.908. Both 

 seeds and flowers are vermifuge, and are used as such in Brazil 

 in doses of 8 grams in infusion or with an equal dose of castor 

 oil. The anthelmintic dose of the essential oil is 515 drops 

 with powdered sugar. 



