1064 
INDIAN MEDICINAL DLANfS. 
Use : — It is largely eaten in Ceylon as a vegetable, especially 
by mothers to increase the flow of milk ; also used as a wash for 
the eyes. (Watt.) 
N. 0. CHENOPODIACEiE. 
1041. Chenopodium album , Moq., h.f.b.i., v. 3, 
Roxb. 260. 
Syn. : — C. viride, Linn. 
Sans : — Vastuk. 
Vern. : — Bathu sag or bathua sak, cbandan betu (B. Bathtia, 
bathu, jansng, lunak (Pb.) ; Bethui, cliarai, jansng, H.) ; Bhatua, 
arak’ (Santal ; Chakwat, ghanen, (Bomb); Jliil (Sind); Khuljeh 
ke baji (Duk) ; Parupu kire (Tam.) ; Pappu kura (Tel.). 
Eng. : — The white goose-foot. 
Habitat Common throughout India. 
Erect or ascending, scentless herbs, mealy or green. Stems 
l-10ft., rarely slender or decumbent, angled, often striped green, 
red or purple. Leaves extremely variable in the cultivated 
forms, 4-6in. long, with petiole sometimes as long or longer ; 
rhombic, deltoid, or lanceolate, acute or obtuse, entire, toothed 
or irregularly lobulate, upper narrower, more entire. Clusters in 
compact or lax panicles ; spikes, which in cultivated forms be- 
come thyrsoid. Sepals 5, herbaceous (not succulent in fruit). 
Seeds very vertical. Forms vary from green to red. 
Use Considered laxative and recommended for use by 
Sanskrit writers in the form of pot herb in piles. (U. C Dutt.) 
Chemical investigation of the composition of Chenopodium oil. 
There is a pronounced increase in specific gravity aud decrease in optical 
rotation after samples have been kept for a year at the ordinary temperature. 
For example, in the case of one oil with a specific gravity of 0'9700 and a 
D= —6-20, at 25°C, the corresponding values after a year were sp. gr. 0'9804 
and a D= — 5 5°. When the oil was kept in a refrigerator these changes were 
less pronounced. The formation of the glycol produced on hydrating as- 
caridol with ferrous sulphate has been found to correspond to the 
same re-arrangement of the molecule which takes place when ascaridol fs 
heated. In addition to this glycol, two other crystalline products were also 
formed. One of these, termed B-glycol, melted in the anhydrous state at 108° 
