Chenopodium album

Scientific name: Chenopodium album L.

Family: Chenopodiaceae

Synonym: Chenopodium viride L.

Bengali/Vernacular name: Bathuashak, Chandan betu (Bengali); Bowttha shag (Noakhali).

Tribal name: Mogapati (Chakma), Aangpadi (Khumi), Bra tho aa (Marma), Bran-thow-sthei (Rakhaing), Buthak (Tripura).

English name: White goosefoot, Pigweed, Lamb’s quarters.

Description of the plant: An erect scentless annual herb, up to 1 m tall. Stem mealy, green or red, angular, ribbed. Leaves simple, alternate, ovate to ovate-rhomboid, usually coarsely toothed, lower leaves with longer petioles, upper ones with comparatively short petioles. Flowers clustered and arranged in a large, axillary and terminal leafy panicle. Flowers minute, hermaphrodite, short pedicelled. Fruit a membranous utricle, enclosed in the perianth. Seeds smooth, lenticular, blackish-brown.

Plant parts used: Leaf and stem.

Medicinal uses: Pea-sized pills are made from leaves and stems of the plant are advised to take thrice a day (one pill each time) for seven days to treat abdominal pain.

Fresh juice extracted from leaves and stems of the plant is given twice a day (10 ml amount each time) for seven days to treat piles.

Herb juice is taken for the treatment of flatulence.

Infusion made from leaves and stems of the plant is taken thrice a day until the gastric ulcers is cured.

Distribution: Commonly available as a winter weed in fallow lands throughout the country.

Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….