WORMSEED
Cheno podium ambrosioides var. anthelmintium
COMMON NAMES: American wormseed, Jerusalem oak, chenopodium, Mexican tea.
FEATURES: Wormseed is the common name given to various plants and their derivatives. American
wormseed, Chenpodium ambrosioides, also known as C. anthelmintium, is in the goosefoot family
Chenopodiaceae, which is a native of the American tropics but has widely escaped to waste places in
almost all parts of the United States (cultivated in Maryland).
The plant grows 2–4 feet high and has yellowish green flowers that are oval and gland-dotted on the
underside; they flower from July to September. The glossy black seeds ripen in the autumn, at which time
they should be collected. The entire plant and seeds are distinguished by a peculiar disagreeable smell.
The oil is the best form of administration.
MEDICINAL PARTS: Seeds, top.
SOLVENTS: Distilling with water or superheated steam; 70 proof alcohol.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Anthelmintic, antispasmodic.
USES: Chiefly used to expel intestinal worms, the cause of many mistreated symptoms. The infusion of the
plant is often employed to promote menstruation, and to overcome uterine colic and cases of hysteria, if
used in small amounts daily.
DOSE: Of the oil, 4–20 drops with honey or molasses, for children according to age. The infusion of the
tops and pulverized seeds, 1 teaspoonful to 1 cupful of boiling water; steep 15 minutes, administer in
wineglassful amounts. To expel worms with more success plan to give the above during a full moon, as
the tenants are more active at this time. Omit the evening meal, give the prescribed dose, and give again in
the morning before breakfast, followed by a herbal cathartic; repeat for three days to make sure the larvae
are expelled.
HOMEOPATHIC CLINICAL: Tincture of fresh plant, solution of oil seed for aphasia, apoplexy, asthma,
cerebral deafness, convulsions, dropsy, epilepsy, headache, hemicrania, hemiplegia, leuckorrhea, menses
(suppressed), paralysis, scapula (pain in), tinnitus, tonsilitis.
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: Two kinds of mar (wormseed), Cheno podium anthelmintium and Cheno podium